


Avery

by Lalaith_Quetzalli



Series: Menel [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Betrayal, Cameos, Canon Rewrite, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dysfunctional Family, F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Insinuation of future crossovers, Magic, Onesided Skyeward, Past Melinda May/Grant Ward, Past Phil Coulson/Cellist, Past Relationship(s), Past Skye/Miles Lydon, Prophecy, Team as Family, Treason, Unrequited Love, Victoria Hand lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-07-11
Packaged: 2018-02-04 12:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 57,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1779808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lalaith_Quetzalli/pseuds/Lalaith_Quetzalli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They called themselves Agents of SHIELD, but what was SHIELD anymore? They were the Protectors of the Earth... until the serpent revealed itself. When the end of the world they all know comes, the Family is all the Team will have, as long as the Coward and Traitor don't tear them apart before the beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The End

**Author's Note:**

> So... I said I was taking a week of, my muse didn't quite agree. She gave me a day off after I returned from my trip (Monday) then she made me write like crazy the next day, enough that I actually finished the first draft of this chapter in one single day (that hadn't happened in a very long time!) I've also finished the second chapter already and am almost halfway through the third (which is good, since I'm still hoping to finish this before the second season begins). 
> 
> This part will focus on the last episodes of the series, as well as CA2. I'll also begin paving the way for a few crossovers I've planned for the third part (minor ones, but still). I won't rewrite all the episodes so if something is mentioned, even if only a little, it happened (most likely, as in the series), if it's not mentioned it probably never happened), I will only go into it, if t changes, or if I needed to point something specific out). 
> 
> Here is where the romance actually comes into place! Enjoy!

Avery

(Part 2 of the Menel Series)

_By: Lalaith Quetzalli_

_They called themselves Agents of SHIELD, but what was SHIELD anymore? They were the Protectors of the Earth... until the serpent revealed itself. When the end of the world they all know comes, the Family is all the Team will have, as long as the Coward and Traitor don't tear them apart before the beginning._

**Chapter 1. The End**

Not a word was said, by anyone, instead all the Agents in the Control Room of the Bus could only watch in silence the message appearing on the main screen, the message Agent Avery had just managed to decode from all the 'noise' on S.H.I.E.L.D. channels:

"Out of the Shadows, Into the Light..."

And if that weren't enough to raise red flags in everyone's heads, the final word of the message certainly clinched it:

"HYDRA"

It was all a hell of a mess, it had been for the last couple of weeks in fact. Two months after Skye rejoined the team in her new guise as 'Agent Astrid Avery', AC had decided that as dangerous as it was to look for certain things... it was even riskier not to have the information when they so clearly needed it. In their particular case: where it pertained to how exactly Phil Coulson's body had been 'brought back to life'. While Menel's talk with Hela certainly served to answer a few questions, there was a lot they did not know, and as their confrontations against Centipede's soldiers grew in frequency and seriousness, it was quite clearly they needed to know what had happened exactly, and why the information was so important to the Clairvoyant.

In the end, it was Skye who offered a solution.

" _I am a mess of a person, due to my heritage." She informed Phil crisply one afternoon. "While I mostly got my looks from my mother, my abilities are mainly those of my father... with some very specific exceptions. I did not actually inherit my mother's precognitive abilities, at least not where the future is concerned, but I'm quite capable of 'reading' the past, of a person or at times even objects, when they are specially charged by a person's power or an especially relevant event. Also, somehow, combining the abilities of both of my parents, I'm capable of something we call 'Astral Walking'. Humans who believe in psychics call it 'astral projection' or 'remote viewing' at times. I can project myself, or at least my mind, to another location, and see what is there in real time. Also, because it's just my mind... or my spirit, depending on how you wish to interpret it, no one will see me, they won't actually know I'm there, unless they have among their number a particularly powerful psychic, or a sorcerer..."_

" _So, you propose what?" Phil wanted to confirm his theory before giving the go ahead. "That you go 'mentally' or whatever to this 'Guest House' FitzSimmons identified through the records borrowed from the Triskellion and find whatever the GH-325 is?"_

" _Exactly." Skye/Astrid informed her superior brightly. "Though, to be more precise, what I am proposing is that 'we' go do that." She offered a hand to him. "I can take one person with me on my 'astral trips'. It might be a bit disorienting, since you're not psychic, or a sorcerer, but I'm quite sure your own changes will allow you to adjust. So, what say you?"_

" _What are we waiting for?"_

_They decided not to tell the team anything about their little trip until they got back, not wanting to worry them or anything like that... after what they discovered, they decided it was probably better not to tell them anything at all for what they'd found... it went far beyond anything they could have ever imagined. And really, a blue alien's body-fluids being processed into the drug that had, for lack of a better term, regenerated Phil's heart after it was practically torn in two? It was nothing like what any of them could have ever imagined._

_Maybe it was luck (whether good or bad they knew not) that made it so one of the guards (not S.H.I.E.L.D.) in the facility marched into the last room of the facility, where the drugs were being kept under lock and key, went through a door labeled T.A.H.I.T.I. And to an industrial sized freezer with the initials: G.H., which contained none other than the aforementioned blue alien... or what was left of it, in any case._

_Skye had been so absolutely shocked by the discovery that she couldn't help but cancel her 'astral walk' throwing both of them back into their bodies rather abruptly. Leaving Phil with a feeling similar to whiplash._

" _Agent Avery?" Phil called to her formally. "Astrid?"_

_It had taken some effort, getting used to calling her by a name so different from the one he'd first known her by, but knowing that it was the only way she could be with them, he'd forced himself to do it and not complain about it._

" _Skye?!" When, after several minutes, she still wouldn't answer, she finally resorted to her old name. "What is wrong?"_

" _That..." She was so shocked her words failed her. "That was..."_

" _You mean the blue alien?" Phil tried to guess. "It sure was a shocking sight but..."_

" _That was no alien... no more alien than me, in any case..." She whispered, forcing herself to speak past the knot in her throat._

" _What...?" That, her boss wasn't expecting._

" _That was a Jotun..." Skye finally blurted out._

_And as if to make the message all the more clear, she allowed her arms to shift into the pale-blue haze Phil had only ever seen in one individual: her father, Loki, on that day when the truth about her was explained to the team..._

_And suddenly Phil understood her shock. For her it was not an unknown alien being used to restore human lives... it was a member of her own race (or one of them) possibly even someone who could have been, might have been, family, being experimented on, and used, as if he were nothing more than an animal, or maybe even less than that. Phil felt abruptly sick at the thought. While he was very thankful for being alive, the idea of S.H.I.E.L.D. using a sentient creature in such a manner... it was despicable._

They hadn't actually talked about her feelings regarding what they had discovered that day, or his for that matter. Phil had felt nauseous enough when understanding everything he had to rush to the bathroom, and by the time he'd returned Skye simply refused to talk about it at all. Then there had been other missions.

It was a week before they could actually seat together, in private, and talk about it all:

" _I've been meaning to talk to you." He declared as soon as the door to her bunk finished closing behind him. "About what we found out last week..." His voice, his words, failed him, he had no idea how to explain himself without sounding like an idiot. "I... Skye... I..."_

" _You don't have to do this, you know." She told him calmly, pulling the band from her hair, releasing it from its tight ponytail. "I know you feel like you've gotta apologize for what we found out, for what S.H.I.E.L.D. or whoever it is that the Guest House actually belongs to, for what they've been doing with the body of that Jotun... but their actions are not your fault AC, and I do not hold you liable for them."_

_Phil couldn't help but think he liked her much more like that, it, she, looked more natural with her hair down and loose, rather than in the tight ponytail her 'Astrid Avery' persona usually used (it was part of the idea, so she would look different from Skye...). He also couldn't help but let out a breath at her words, she knew him so well, even when he at times doubted how well he knew her, and himself... she still somehow knew him. It was exhilarating, humbling and even downright terrifying by turns._

" _I cannot believe SHIELD would do something like that to a sentient creature." Phil admitted after a while contemplating things._

" _To be fair, they probably don't know that." Skye pointed out. "I mean, really, their only example of an alien was with the chitauri, and they were not what I would call sentient, hive-mentality, or whatever it is that was being used by their true leader to control them notwithstanding... and it's not like the Jotun was actually alive when they found him so..."_

" _How do you know that?" He actually was curious about her confidence on that._

" _Because, according to what I learnt while on Asgard, the Hidden Paths that connected Midgard (Earth) to Jotunheim were collapsed during the last war with the Aesir, over a thousand years ago. No Frost Giant could have crossed here since then. So, logic would indicate that what's in the GH is a decently preserved corpse that SHIELD, or whoever is in charge of that facility, found at some point... probably preserved in the ice."_

" _You're taking this awfully calmly..."_

" _Well, I will admit I was pretty shocked at first. But that was mostly because I'd never actually fully seen a Jotun. Adar hates that form of his and hardly ever shifts. I myself have never done a complete shift into that form, I'll even admit to be a little bit afraid of how I might change while in it, after everything I've heard about Frost Giants and their nature..."_

" _You don't change that much when you take your elven form. Your speech-pattern alters a bit, and you move more fluidly, almost as if you were floating, but aside from that and the obvious physical differences, you don't really change..."_

" _True, but since that was the form I was born with, it's much more natural to me than the Jotun visage. My hands have gone blue a few times by now, but never my whole body."_

" _Still, going back to the matter at hand. You're not upset by what has been done to that Jotun?"_

" _Like I said before, I understand that SHIELD did not know they were dealing with a sentient creature, they were studying an alien, trying to learn from it. And, to be perfectly honest, just knowing you are alive because of that, I'm willing to let it all go."_

" _I know nothing fazes you, but I would have expected this to..."_

" _Maybe if the Jotun were alive and being experimented on against his will... or if the experiments were just out of greed and helping no one... but if those experiments hadn't been done you would not be here AC, and I cannot say I regret that. I would regret if it were the other way around."_

_Phil could only shake his head, yet another confirmation that he probably would never fully understand the girl standing before him._

_He knew she hadn't given up yet, on her pursuit of him, she'd told him that much; but he still harbored the same doubts he'd had that day. How can any two people love each other when they did not know the other, when they did not even fully know themselves... it was impossible._

" _So, to summarize, the Guest House is a non-SHIELD facility and they're using fluids of an alien being to experiment... one of those experiments, a project they apparently decided to call T.A.H.I.T.I. includes a drug, the GH-325 which pretty much regenerates the cells, which should be impossible, to a point where it can restore even a dead body." The young woman shook her head at the insanity of it all. "This is beyond insane. As thankful as I may be for some of the things that have been achieved. Do we even know the full scope effects of it all? I mean, you've had that drug in you for... a while now, and from what I talked with Hela we know it's allowing your body to adapt to the abilities of an Eihenjar, which are far superior to those of a normal human but... well..."_

" _Does that apply to anyone the drug is used on, or is it doing that to me because of the very specific circumstances of my return?" Phil finished for her._

" _Exactly."_

" _We're completely in the dark about is."_

" _It's pretty much where we live nowadays." She snorted. "It would seem that the more we find out about any given topic, the more we need to learn still. I mean, first there was the whole 'I'm an 084 thing'... and we've seen how that turned out. And now, with the GH-325, and the Jotun, and the Clairvoyant, and Centipede..." She let out a breath. "There's so much we don't know, too much we don't understand..."_

" _But not for long." Phil countered, his voice turning strong and intense. "To hell with any protocols or any code I used to be bound by. We have a long list of questions we need answers for, and we're going after them ourselves."_

_"_ _Well," She wasn't expecting that, but wasn't about to back down either, she would always go where he lead. "If the team's up for it..."_

" _No." His denial was immediate. "No, listen to me. I trust them, but we need to protect them from this." He could still remember the security measures he and Skye had noticed in place during their 'tour' of the Guest House. "Fury went to dangerous lengths to keep this under wraps lied to me, lied to S.H.I.E.L.D. This is a powerful secret... a secret men are willing to die for. Until we know why, we can't share this with anyone, for their safety and ours. Got it?"_ _  
_

_"Got it." She agreed with no hesitation. "_ _So, what'll it be, AC? Who do we go after first?"_

" _The person responsible for this." He signaled to her middle, and the scars they both knew were beneath her blouse. "And we make him pay."_

That was how it'd begun. Days later Phil had had a meeting in the bus with some of the top-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents (Fury was off, as he was off-grid... again), as they discussed a plan to find and catch the Clairvoyant. Astrid was instrumental for the plan, as she would be guiding the teams from the Bus. She was even promoted to Level 7 (with added temporary Level 8 security clearance) so she could get into the necessary files and communications channels legally (though they all knew she could have hacked her way into them).

The mission, which was planned thoroughly enough it should have been a piece of cake, was a mess. Something Astrid was deeply disturbed about. The Agents had trusted her! After what she'd managed when leading the mission that had taken down the Rising Tide once and for all they had all trusted her to be just as effective in finding and catching the Clairvoyant, and she had failed... spectacularly... it was enough to make her cringe. Especially when Agent Blake was seriously injured by Deathlok (Mike) during the mission.

The turn came when they realized Agent Blake, before his injuries became too much, had made use of a special bullet created by Fitz, meant to be used as a tracker. It allowed them to track Deathlok to an old, abandoned, factory in Pensacola, Florida. There, with some help from Fitz's dwarves they found the Clairvoyant: a self-named psychic, quadriplegic reject of the Index called Thomas Nash who had the gall to mock Phil and his team about Skye's death and the things he would do to the rest of them... until Ward put a bullet in his chest.

The shock Astrid felt by the action was such she had no idea what to say, and she knew neither did AC. Ward was taken into custody in the Bus, awaiting review by the higher ups, they would be the ones to decide on what consequences should befall him for killing a technically defenseless man when he was supposed to be taken in. Of course, the fact that he pretty much declared he'd done it for her didn't help matters any.

Astrid was not naïve, she knew perfectly well what some people were capable of; knew what her Adar (father) would have done to the man who ordered her shot just to further his own plans, nearly killing her in the process. And yet that did not mean she had to like it. Because someone killing because of her, in her name, it was like she had that blood on her hands too, like it's her fault that person died; and no matter how bad they might have been, she didn't like feeling that way. It also didn't help when they realized he might not have been guilty after all...

The brunette could still remember, with painful clarity, the conversation with her AC after the team were back in the air:

" _Mind if I talk some stuff through with you?" Astrid inquired after knocking softly on AC's open door. "Are you busy?"_

" _I'm worried." Phil said for all response._

_"_ _About Ward?" Astrid nodded grimly. "I know."_

_She had confronted Ward about the matter, but she didn't believe it had done much, in the grand scheme of things, her former SO had been acting odd, ever since her return, it seemed, since his failure to recognize her right away... though it had become even more pronounced after his former SO had joined the team, along with a few others, to help in the hunt of Deathlok._

_While Ward might want to bring his old SO in, tell him the truth about Skye/Astrid, she hadn't wanted to, too afraid of an unknown knowing the truth about her, and AC had declared it was her decision to make. In the end, and because she didn't want to seem cold, she had told Ward they would decide after the current situation was over; and Ward couldn't just ignore her wishes and tell Garrett everything anyway thanks to a nifty little protection spell Loki had cooked up, where no one could reveal the truth about her, except herself, and whoever she gave express permission to (AC was the only one who had such permission, he was the only one she trusted absolutely, and he'd promised only to do it if her life depended on it)._

_Still, the whole situation with Ward was putting her on edge, so much she hadn't been able to relax from her 'Agent Avery' persona even though the mission had been over for hours, and only the team was on board the Bus at the time._ _  
_

_"_ _I can't believe he just killed someone like that." She finished her thought._ _  
_

_"_ _I'm worried he killed the wrong man." Phil replied._ _  
_

_Astrid wasn't expecting that, the idea left her stumped._

" _How do we know it was him?" AC insisted. "He never spoke. The computer spoke for him. How do we know he was the one controlling it?"_

" _Are you saying Nash could have been pretending to be the Clairvoyant?" She tried the idea out-loud, it sounded insane, and yet fit their situation all too well..._

" _I'm saying Nash could have been a prop." AC said in return._ _  
_

_"_ _And now he's dead." She could see where he was going with that line of thought._ _  
_

_"_ _After the attacks led us right to him." He nodded. "The investigation all wrapped up in a neat little bow. I feel like he could still be out there right now, in our heads..."_ _  
_

_"_ _Or in our files." She corrected abruptly, activating the tablet she'd been holding all along, the collection of files she hadn't closed even after the mission was finished. "When you told me to check into the psych evals, you said something, you said, 'read his mind' and it got me thinking." Her voice got faster as she began connecting all the dots in a way she hadn't before. "And Ward said that the Clairvoyant knew how to push all the right buttons..."_ _  
_

_"_ _Raina did that to me, too..." He admitted._ _  
_

_"_ _Did she mention your father's death?" The change in expression was enough of an answer as she explained. "Your psych evaluation called it a 'defining moment'." She offered the tablet to him, regardless of protocols. "These aren't just personality tests, they're surveillance on every agent; pictures, stats, where you've been stationed, who you visit, where you like to eat..."_ _  
_

_"_ _Dinners at the Richmond." Phil muttered, mostly to himself, before turning to her again. "He's been monitoring us. Think about it. The Clairvoyant only knew you'd be at Quinn's villa..."_

" _After I dropped a tracker." She finished for him, understanding where he was going. "And the only thing he's had trouble seeing is what happened to you after you died..."_ _  
_

_"_ _Because Director Fury wouldn't release that file to anyone." They were on a roll._ _  
_

_" We've been wrong all along, then." Astrid murmured. "_ _The Clairvoyant... he's not a psychic like some of the mutants, or like Naneth..._

" _The Clairvoyant doesn't have abilities... He has security clearance." Phil finished the part she still had trouble processing. "He's an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D."_

That was when things truly got insane: with Phil wanting to know if Ward had decided to kill the Clarivoyant's decoy or if he'd been ordered to do so, Fitz finding May's secret encrypted hard-line and disabling it (under Astrid's orders), the confrontation in the hangar when May discovered what Fitz had done... it was worse than a bad Cowboy movie... and then the Bus, which was supposed to be taking them to the Triskellion, abruptly changed route, apparently without anyone on the plane directing it!

The tension kept mounting, until Phil decided to knock May out with an ICER, while Astrid connected her laptop to the systems and tried to decode the strange 'noise' she kept finding in all the S.H.I.E.L.D. channels. Then came the call from Garret, who was being targeted by a couple of drones, and Fitz got working on overriding the weapons systems so Coulson could give a hand to his old friend (all while May continued unconscious and Ward in their cell).

Phil was pretty handy with the guns, and in no time at all Garrett was on board. He was still pretty strung-up when he entered the Command area of the bus, where Astrid's hands flew across the keys of her laptop as she worked out an algorithm to decipher the code she'd found hidden in the strange 'noise':

" _Can I ask the obvious question?" Garret demanded as he joined the others. "What the hell?!" "We don't know." Phil admitted grimly. "We don't even know where our plane is headed."_ _  
_

_"_ _Oh, I saw your trajectory." Garret informed him darkly. "You're being tractor-beamed straight to the Hub. Those drones were launched out of there for sure."_ _  
_

_"_ _Victoria Hand." Phil murmured, shocked at the mere possibility._ _  
_

_"_ _Hand?" Leo repeated in disbelief. "Can't be."_ _  
_

_"_ _It can't be what, now?" Garrett asked, realizing he was missing something._

" _The Clairvoyant." Astrid clarified from her spot._ _  
_

_"_ _I thought Ward capped that guy." Ward's old SO commented, confused._ _  
_

_"We_ _don't believe the man Ward killed was the Clairvoyant." Phil summarized their conclusions for him. "We think he was an unwitting decoy meant to end our investigation."_ _  
_

_"_ _That's a lot of trouble to go through for a red herring, don't you think?" Either Garrett didn't believe it, or didn't want to._

" _Because the Clairvoyant is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent using high-level clearance to stay ahead of us, make it seem like she's got psychic abilities." Coulson elaborated._ _  
_

_"'_ _She'?" Garrett repeated, still in disbelief. "You think Victoria Hand's the Clairvoyant?" He scoffed then. "I don't mean to pee in the punch bowl, but that doesn't make a lot of sense. I was stationed with Vic in Lisbon. She's a hard-ass and a buzzkill at parties, I grant you, but do you really think she's capable of that?"_

" _Excuse me. Didn't she just try to blow you out of the sky?" Phil couldn't believe his old friend wouldn't believe him._

" _Don't get me wrong she's definitely gone nuts, but her actions prove she's not the Clairvoyant, right?" The other Senior Agent insisted. "I mean, if she's been hiding in plain sight all this time, why reveal herself now?"_

_As if on cue, the answer began appearing on the screen right then, as Astrid finally finished the key to decode the hidden message:_

" _Guys."_ _She called the men's attention. "Look."_

" _Out of the Shadows, Into the Light..." Phil read out-loud grimly._

_When the last word came out Astrid wished she could curse out-loud in all the languages she knew (which, granted, weren't many, but the intent was there). Still, Garrett's reaction, while not quite that vocal, reflected their situation well enough:_

" _Well, I'll be..."_

_And there, in full caps, was their worst nightmare shown:_

" _HYDRA"_

Leo seemed to still be processing the implications of everything that was going on, and the fact that Simmons was alone for an unknown (Agent Triplett) in the midst of a place controlled by one they believed might be the real Clairvoyant. Garrett offered to take care of explaining things to his old subordinate, while Astrid followed Coulson to where May was.

"You look thoughtful." Phil commented, stopping on the way.

"I wonder if this was what Naneth warned me about." Astrid admitted quietly.

"What warning?" Phil asked, immediately on alert. "Why is this the first I hear of any alert?"

"Because I had no idea what to think of it." Astrid admitted. "Naneth will be the first to say that prophecies most of the time are only understood after they've come to pass. In this case, the day before I left Asgard she told me: 'Beware the crows among the ravens... keep an eye out for the foxes pretending to be wolves... may the bonds of family be as bright as the stars and as strong as the earth itself, may the coward and traitor not tear them apart...' Endquote."

"Crows? Ravens? Foxes? Wolves?" Phil recited, obviously not understanding a thing.

"Well, if you mix a number of cultures and their beliefs, you get this:" Astrid explained her own theories: "Crows are considered bad omens, while ravens, on the other hand, are seen by some as birds of light, and of magic. Hence, the crows among the ravens would be bad. Also, they are both so similar that it can be hard to tell them apart, unless you know what you're looking for. Foxes are tricksters, while wolves are known for their loyalty, their packs... so, like with the birds, foxes pretending to be wolves wouldn't be a good thing. And it doesn't matter that it's not logical in reality, since in prophecies they're almost always metaphors."

"So you think your mother's prophecy was a warning about this?" Phil guessed. "About the traitors in S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra?"

"Well it fits, doesn't it?" She shrugged. "I've been trying to understand what it meant for the last three months, even when I began mixing the meanings the animals had in different cultures, I could have never imagined it would mean this exactly, not until now..."

"What about the coward and traitor, or was it cowards and traitors, as in all of Hydra inside S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Phil inquired, more of the same.

"Possibly? I don't know exactly." Astrid shrugged self-consciously. "Since she said it all in elvish and I'm still quite new at handling the language I'm not exactly sure if she said those words in singular or plural, or if she was being purposefully ambiguous. She may have been talking about all of them, or even one specifically."

"One that will threaten your family's bonds..."

"Our family's bonds. I think she meant us, our team, as a family. It's not like my parents have anything to do with this mess for the prophecy to involve them. No one outside us knows a thing about them, and they won't tell anyone else..."

"So we're at risk... as a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., or as our own team?"

"I don't know."

It was frustrating, having such a prophecy, yet no idea what it might mean.

"I suppose if something happens we can consider we at least had a heads up, for now we need to handle the current situation." Phil decided eventually. "Otherwise we will all end up dead in the next hour and worrying about the rest of the prophecy will be pointless."

Astrid knew he was right, therefore she did not insist on the matter; she was happy someone else knew about the prophecy at least; hopefully that would help any.

Things only got more complicated from there. Right as they were about to reach the 'cell', Astrid's personal phone (not the S.H.I.E.L.D. issued she used most of the time), began ringing.

"What's that?" Phil asked, confused.

"That's my personal line." Astrid announced grimly, bringing her secondary phone out. "This cannot be good."

The moment she finished reading the message on the screen she cursed in a mix of English and Chinese (elvish wasn't that good for cursing in the end). She did so for a handful of seconds before breaking off and making to run back the way they'd come.

"What was that?!" Phil called before she could move.

"That was Tasha." Astrid informed him stoically, barely looking at him over her shoulder. "Shit just hit the fan in Washington. I have no idea what the hell is going on, but for whatever the reason all the information on S.H.I.E.L.D. is about to go online. She's giving me five minutes to take and seal everything I consider too risky for our team before the rest goes up."

"Why the hell is Natasha making highly classified S.H.I.E.L.D. information public?" Phil asked, beyond confused at everything.

"I haven't the slightest idea." Astrid shrugged. "But unless you want the cross-hairs to be pointed at us, and especially at you, I need to get to work, right now."

"Go." Phil waved her on. "I'll handle May and her hard-line."

It was all she needed to hear before rushing off.

Nearly five minutes afterwards, Astrid was still typing on her laptop at top speed, in a battle against time, and whatever the hell was going on in the Triskellion, trying to make sure her team, her family, would still have a life, a real, private life, when it all ended; and mostly, make sure that the whole 'making public the information' thing, wouldn't put them at risk; they still had enemies trying to kill them after all: like Cybertek, Centipede, the real Clairvoyant, and whoever else he/she might be working with...

An alarm on her phone sounded, immediately followed by one on the laptop, as Natasha finished whatever it was she was doing, releasing everything that was left in the digital archives of the Triskellion, to the public.

The whole thing made Astrid wonder briefly what the point had been in taking down the Rising Tide, if they were making it all public anyway...

That line of thought vanished abruptly from her mind when the shooting began and Astrid reacted instinctively by throwing herself to the floor and crawling beneath the table, curling into a ball and waiting in silence for the bullets to stop flying.

Eventually the firing did stop, though Astrid din't get that much of a breather, as Garrett realized Hydra probably would want to preserve the plane; so they would be sending a strike team against them. Leo fused the hydraulics of the cargo bay to buy them some time, while the others tried to find a way to get out without being caught. Astrid, for her part, got working on backing up everything she could from the systems while at the same time wiping them clean. They were leaving nothing for Hydra to use (especially considering the kind of information they had on the hard-drive of the bus, all the things they'd encountered during their missions).

Astrid even took the liberty of using a little time-warping spell on her laptop and the external hard-drive she was using to back up the files. It was one of the more complex spells Loki had taught her while in Asgard. Hell to use on living beings, as one had to take a lot of variables in consideration: like food, water, oxygen and many other things; however, with inanimate things it was pretty easy, mainly because, most of the time, it didn't do much, only this time it allowed her to copy a lot more than she would have been able with her limited time.

She was releasing a virus in other, lesser areas of the Bus's mainframe so things like the cameras' feed, GPS records and such would be erased as well, when something caught her off guard: it was as if someone had punched her in the middle of her stomach suddenly. The young woman could not help but double over, barely managing to hold back her pained moan; she felt all her air being taken from her, along with something else, like a sudden void in the center of her heart.

"What the...?" She didn't understand.

And then, in a second, it all became clear. She was a bit empathic, like her mother had told her, it was a common gift in their family. It was one thing that hadn't surprised her that much, since she'd always been pretty much at 'reading' the moods of the people around her. Most of the time they didn't really affect her, but the level of intensity she was sensing in that moment, it was superior to anything a human could feel, anything a hman could process. The answer came to the front of her mind in the next second.

"AC..." She murmured to herself.

Yes, something was really wrong with her AC, and she had no idea what... neither could she go and find out, since they were in a pretty precarious situation! And she had to be logical, it would do no good to try and help Phil if they weren't alive to do something about whatever it was that had upset him that much...

Somehow Astrid managed to finish with her own duty, right in time to rush after the rest of the team into the vents, and down a 'mouse hole' with help of one of Leo's most clever inventions (one that, apparently, had never reached distribution, though he'd sent it to the higher ups for consideration a year before).

The team had a plan. Most of them did not like the idea of splitting, but knew it was necessary. So while Phil, May, Leo and Garrett went to the surveillance rooms, from where they hoped to locate Jemma and Agent Triplett, so they could then go and get them out; meanwhile Ward and Astrid went in search of the control rooms, where they would cut down the power and disable whatever was keeping the Bus locked (it was their best chance at getting out after they'd rescued the missing member(s) of their team).

Things seem to be going fairly decently, at least until Ward and Astrid got out of the ventilation system and into one of the closets, the one closest to where they needed to go, only to find what looked like over a dozen armed agents on the way.

"Damn." Ward cursed at the sight.

"The processing center is at the end of that hall." Astrid pointed out, not-quite-helpfully.

"Give me your ICER." Ward instructed unexpectedly.

"What are you gonna do?" She had a bad feeling.

"Pave the way for you." He answered simply.

She didn't know if she should feel touched by his worry, or affronted by the fact that he didn't believe she could fight as well, in the end she settled for the first.

"There's like a hundred guys out there." She hid her mix of worry and annoyance with dramatics, she was good at that, had always been.

"Twelve, or maybe fifteen." Ward corrected with the slightest roll of his eyes. "Level-five foot soldiers, basic armor package, and no other way through. The others are depending on us."

"But it's suicide." She insisted.

She didn't understand, was it really worry for her well-being that stopped him from even allowing the thought that she might be able to help; or did he simply not believe her capable?

"Not if I don't die." He replied in an attempt at carelessness, except his tone turned grim almost right away as he added: "And if I do..."

"Wh... slow down." Astrid snapped, suddenly having no idea what switch had been flipped.

"...maybe I deserve to." He finished in the same dark tone. "I killed an innocent man, Skye..."

She rolled her eyes at his use of her real name, she'd been pretty insistent on no one doing that, it was too risky, for her, and everyone else as well. At least she knew they couldn't do it (either accidentally or intentionally) if there was someone present who didn't know the truth already.

"You didn't know." She tried to make him focus on the positive, the last thing they needed was him going all suicidal on her, on them all. "You thought you were doing the right thing. You thought he was going to..."

"To hurt you." He finished for her, looking into her eyes, absolutely serious.

That one, she wasn't expecting. It was true the false Clairvoyant had mocked them about her, about her 'death', and how the rest of the team would be next, beginning with her (and why he'd fixated on her, she'd no idea, she was technically the newest member of the team!); still, it was one thing to suspect, or even know, that things were like that, and an entirely different one to hear the person say it to your face... for a second Astrid wanted nothing more than to point out that she never asked him to kill anyone... yet, she realized such a comment wouldn't help their situation any, she was trying to make sure he survived, not that he killed himself faster.

"If we make it out of this, maybe we can... grab a drink, you and me." He offered unexpectedly.

"Are you...?" She thought he had to be insane.

"Remember in that bar in Dublin, you offered to talk?" He went and mentioned the very time she was thinking about. "I didn't want to talk. I needed to keep things compartmentalized."

"Like with May?" Astrid drawled, then scoffed at his look of surprise. "I'm not an idiot. We live in the same plane together, for god's sake."

"Well, with her, I knew I could." He insisted. "With you I didn't want to risk it."

"I was offering to talk, Ward, not to have sex with you." She pointed out.

It wasn't like she'd never had casual sex, really, because she had. And then there had been Miles, which was an entirely different can of worms... but really, she hadn't been offering sex to Ward, not back then, not ever. She just wasn't interested in him that way. Regardless of AC's insistence that their kiss had been a mistake, that her attraction to him (and his to her, because she knew it existed even if he denied it a thousand times...) could never come to anything, she wasn't about to give up, it just wasn't in her blood...

"I'm not saying that." He assured her, a bit too fast. "I'm saying I want a chance to take you up on it, to have that talk." He looked away with a sigh. "Look, I know I'm not that guy. I'm too locked-down, too boring...

"When we make it out of this yes, let's have a drink." She interrupted him.

She might not be interested in him romantically, but that did not mean she couldn't be there for him, be his friend, it looked like he might need one. And really, hadn't she been the one to say they were all family? Family was supposed to be there for each other, always, she would be there for Ward when he decided he needed her...

Then, as if things weren't already complicated enough, he had to go and kiss her! Astrid didn't even get the chance to react in any way (which might have been a good thing), for just a second later Ward was standing by the door, guns at the ready.

"Seeing how I might die and all that... what the hell?" He chuckled darkly at her over his shoulder before getting ready. "Lock the door behind me."

Astrid still couldn't respond, too shocked by his actions. Finally she managed to open the door to him, to allow him out, and then close it again behind him; all the time her instincts screaming all kind of imprecations against him. When... if... When Ward returned she as going to teach him that no one could steal a kiss from her!

From inside the closet she could hear the echo of punches, kicks, muffled groans, thudding, rushed footsteps, among other noises that signaled the fight going on. All the while her mind kept wondering on the best response to the stolen kiss. She was debating between yelling his ear off, or the more traditional sound slap, when a much better option occurred to her:

"I'm not a little girl in need of protection..." She muttered to herself. "And I'll show him that."

With that in mind, Astrid took hold of the nearby broom, snapped off the end so she was left holding something similar to her staff, before opening the door silently and taking a look out to make a plan. As it turned out, it was probably a good idea that she decided to step in, and there wasn't that much time for planning, as Ward was down and being beaten. So with that in mind, Astrid decided to forgo any plans and wing it (she was pretty good at that, anyway).

Ward saw her coming, though too late to do anything about it, before he could even open his mouth (or his attackers could become aware of her), she was upon them. The broomstick served her pretty well to knock out a couple of agents before it broke, then it was all about the kicks and the punches, which she was actually quite decent at, if she said so herself.

At some point one of the men managed to distract her enough for another to get into her hard and punch her in the face, hard enough to make her head turn harshly. What the men attacking her were not expecting was when she did not go down with that punch. Instead Astrid simply turned twisted her head this way and that a couple of times until it cracked once, then spit out a mouthful of blood (the hit made her bite the inside of her cheek) to the side, before she spun on a heel, delivering a roundhouse kick to the man who had punched her, followed by an uppercut to the one who had distracted her first.

She finished her turn fluidly, already on guard to continue fighting. It wasn't necessary, as Ward dropped the last guy right then. She was about to comment on what a good team they made, when Ward spoke:

"Are you insane?!" He snapped at her.

"What?" That, she wasn't expecting.

"You didn't need to do that." Ward chided her. "I told you I would take care of them."

"Like you were taking care of them when they were beating the hell out of you?!" She couldn't help but snap back at him. "I was just trying to help you Ward. Besides, I'm not a little girl who needs to be protected. I'm as much of an Agent as you are."

"You made yourself an Agent, does't mean you are one." He retorted abruptly.

By the look on his face the moment the words came out of his mouth, it was obvious he hadn't meant to say them, though that didn't change the fact that he was thinking them.

"I cannot believe you just said that..." She whispered, in absolute shock.

"Skye..." He began, obviously chagrined by his own words.

"Don't... don't say anything." She waved his excuses/apologies aside, she did not have time to deal with them. "Lets just get this done. The others are counting on us."

"You're right." He agreed, trying to appease her. "You ready to hack this system?"

"Who said anything about hacking?" She asked flippantly, allowing a mischievous grin to herself as she showed him the contents of her pack: explosives. "There's no time to be subtle, lets go."

They set up the explosives quickly and easy enough. Ward tried several times to apologize for his words but Skye wouldn't let him. It wasn't that she was offended by his exact words, per say. She understood perfectly why Ward believed that, it's not like she hadn't pretty much done that, really. Hacked and spelled her way into S.H.I.E.L.D., in her identity as Astrid Avery. But that did not mean she did not deserve to be an Agent; she could still remember something Ward had told her, when they were visiting the S.H.I.E.L.D.-Hogwarts:

" _All you need to join is a dedication to the greater good... Coulson saw that in you the moment he met you."_

It was as true in that moment as it had been over five months before, did Ward no longer believe that, or was it that he'd never truly believed it? She did not know the answer to that question, and was almost afraid to find out.

She didn't really have much time to focus on that, in any case. As soon as all the explosives were in place she and Ward hurried down the hall and around a corner to wait. The first explosion was nowhere as big as she was expecting; yet, right as Ward was commenting on that fact, the second one came, several times the intensity of the first one (the former had been more of a warning). It was enough to make the whole building vibrate, at the same time it took out the main systems, including the one that had re-routed the plane and was keeping it grounded.

Then, right as the young woman was about to comment on the satisfaction she felt as the success of their mission, she felt power fill her... or more like the echo of power. She stumbled briefly, but ignored the hand Ward offered, instead righting herself immediately and turning instantly in the direction she could feel the pull of resonating power coming from:

"He's awake..." She murmured to herself, quietly.

Ward might have questioned her comment, if he'd heard her at all, that is, but Astrid wasn't really paying any attention to him; all her focus was on the remnants of the power she could practically taste in the air. Something had happened, though she had no idea what exactly. Something had happened and it had caused Phil to unlock his power, finally...

The brunette wasn't worried, not really, even if Phil was new to his power and had no real idea how to channel it, the raw power would be more than enough to carry him through practically anything. She wasn't worried about him... doesn't mean she didn't rush to meet him and the rest of the team, make sure they were all fine.

They were, of course. And so was Victoria Hand... who, as they found out, wasn't actually the Clairvoyant. No... that title actually belonged to the one person none of them had ever considered (even when things had gotten most tense and accusations flew all around): John Garrett.

As Astrid went to stand beside her AC, watching all the loyal SHIELD Agents marching those who had been revealed to be from Hydra, with Garrett closing the line, she couldn't help but think of her mother's prophecy:

"It seems we've found your crows and foxes..." Phil commented quietly to her, his mind on the same track as hers.

"I wonder if that means Agent Garrett was the Coward and Traitor..." Astrid murmured back.

"Maybe they all were." Phil suggested.

"Maybe." She agreed.

And yet, in a corner of her mind, she couldn't help but think they were missing something, something important... though she had no idea what it might be.


	2. Crows, Foxes, Ravens, Wolves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where some more of Skye's past is revealed, and the connection between her and Phil deepens (nothing romantic yet).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was so focused on writing the fifth chapter for this fic I completely forgot I had to post the second! I'm sorry! But I'm here right now and I hope you'll like what I've written. 
> 
> Some details begin to appear concerning Skye's past and the crossovers I've woven into this using her as a point of focus (I love crossovers, and when I considered that she had been moved from family to family every few months for more than a decade... the possibilities were endless!) 
> 
> Please, enjoy!

**Chapter 2. Crows and Foxes, Ravens and Wolves**

Hours later all the traitors had been rounded. Most of them would be sent to the nearest prison (normal prisons). However, John Garrett had been high enough in Hydra that Hand and Coulson had decided it was better to send him to the Fridge, so arrangements were being made for transport by Hand's most loyal subordinates, while Astrid kept adding information to the main screen in the control room for her superiors' perusal; mostly video from what had happened in the Triskelion, and a few things from the other bases around the world.

"Captain America has defeated the helicarriers at the Triskelion." Victoria Hand stated with a gesture to the things being shown on the screen. "But his status is unknown."

It was, certainly, though that was not one of the things that worried Phil. Natasha had been with Steve for that battle, and he knew her well enough to trust she would have made sure the Captain made it if it were at all in her power... he also knew that if something had happened to him, she would have informed him, or at least Astrid, already.

"And S.H.I.E.L.D. has fallen." Victoria went on. "Hydra factions have taken control of our East African headquarters and the Treehouse. And those are just the ones we know of."

"It's gonna be a scramble, a power grab." Phil nodded, understanding the situation clearly.

"I'll head to the Fridge." The other Senior Agent declared. "At least that facility is secure."

"I don't need to remind you how imperative it is that it stay that way." Phil agreed.

Hand didn't need to hear it, they all knew the importance of keeping the Fridge, and most importantly, its contents, out of Hydra's hands.

"And I'll find Agent Garrett the smallest, darkest cell in the icebox." Victoria sounded almost positively vindictive when she said that.

"I'd like to turn the key on that cell myself if you don't mind, sir." Ward interfered abruptly. "He was my SO... I feel I should have known. It was my duty to..."

"No one knew." Phil interrupted, trying his best to put his Agent at ease. "I didn't know... That's how he beat us by being a friend."

"I spent years with that bastard." Ward insisted, before his voice broke. "Looked up to him. I want to see him suffer..."

From her spot at one of the computers Astrid couldn't help the shiver of dread that ran through her body when Ward said those words. She'd never heard him like that, so cruel, so dark... she could practically feel the cloying shadow in his aura... it was almost sickening. She wondered if that was what betrayal felt like... it couldn't be easy, for Ward to know that a man he so admired had betrayed everyone, betrayed him... still, she didn't like that he was letting that feeling take him over, it wouldn't lead anywhere good. Not for anyone.

"Don't mind the company, and I can always use a man of your skills." Hand nodded at Ward before turning back to Coulson. "Pick up the pieces here at the Hub if you can; and only communicate using one of these." She handed him an encrypted phone. "You and I may be the highest-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who aren't Hydra or dead not that that means anything now. All we have is each other." She let out a breath. "So stay in touch, Agent Coulson."

"I guess you can call me Phil." He offered, as he shook her hand.

Hand was about to leave, with Ward having left already (probably to gather his things), when Astrid made an abrupt decision and approached the woman.

"Agent Hand?" She asked.

"Yes?" She asked, turning to the younger woman, curiously. "Agent Avery, right?"

"Yes ma'am." Astrid swallowed her nervousness as she offered the woman what looked like a bracelet. "I was wondering if you would wear this."

"What is it?" Hand suspected it wasn't as simple as it looked.

"A tracker." The girl answered promptly. "Seeing as we can't exactly trust the usual S.H.I.E.L.D. gear right now I thought this was a good idea. It transmits in a frequency only I can access. I'm getting more ready, and they're still pretty much in the testing stages, but seeing as they will never be more useful than right now..." She shrugged slightly. "It technically should emit a warning should your vitals drop bellow acceptable levels, as a way of knowing if you're attacked. It will also allow us to keep track of each other, and assist one another in case of an emergency. At least that's the idea..."

Astrid cursed inwardly at her inability to hide her nervousness at what she was offering, and the possibility of Hand rejecting it. She hoped she would take it, though. When the older woman had mentioned that she and Phil were probably the highest ranked Agents of SHIELD left, Astrid couldn't help but think of how things would be if Phil were alone. It would be hard enough to survive as they were, they couldn't afford to lose anyone else... which is why the bracelet wasn't just a tracker, Astrid had also done her best to spell it, in the short time she'd had available, some protection (just enough to, hopefully, help preserve a life), and a measure to possibly allow for an emergency rescue in a life-death situation.

"I believe it is a good idea." Hand agreed, securing the bracelet around her left wrist. "Let me know when you have more Agent Avery, these sure will be useful."

"Yes ma'am." The brunette nodded right away.

**xXx**

Hours passed. Astrid waited until everyone was working on fixing the bus (she'd left a program running on restoring the systems) before slipping into Phil's office, locking the door behind her, so they could have a private chat.

"What is going on?" She asked him straight out.

Phil turned to look at her in shock, obviously he wasn't expecting her.

"Agent Avery..." He began in a very formal tone.

"Quit the bullshit AC." She interrupted him, almost ripping the band off her hair to 'release' the 'Agent Avery' persona. "I know something is wrong. I could sense it since before we left the plane, like a metaphorical kick in the mouth of the stomach, it took my breath away, and I cannot even imagine what you were feeling exactly, or what caused it. But I know it was bad..." She hesitated, her voice softening. "I just want to help. To be here for you... regardless of anything else, we're still friends, aren't we? Or is it you don't want to trust me with whatever it is that happened? I will, of course, respect your decision and..."

Phil needed just to raise a hand to stop her rant.

"If there is one person I trust right now, that's you, Skye." He assured her quietly, using her real-name as a way of showing how far that trust went. "I just... I still cannot believe what happened. Have no idea how to even begin telling you..."

"You can show me..." She offered, shyly extending a hand to him. "If you don't mind..."

For a few seconds nothing happened, and right when Skye thought he wouldn't be taking her up on her offer, Phil clasped her hand in his.

Her power reacted immediately to the contact, reflecting how strong the memory was, how important, the young woman was swallowed by it instantly:

_AC and Melinda May were in what passed as an infirmary on the plane, he was working on getting a bullet out of her arm and bandaging her; meanwhile, shooting could still be heard on the background, as Hand's men (and some Hydra) tried to take the Bus._

" _That was his direct line, Phil." May stated grimly, holding back her grimace of pain as best she could when the bullet was finally extracted._

_She was referring to her failed attempt to raise Fury on her secret hard-line, it was how they'd found out he was dead._ _  
_

_"_ _So it's real." Phil stated simply, working on cleaning the wound. "That means it's just you and me, unless there were other parties you reported to."_ _  
_

_"_ _There weren't." She muttered, with little hope that he would believe her._ _  
_

_"_ _Then come out with it." He insisted she be honest, like he had been doing for a while. "Fury's gone. We're being shot at by our own people..."_ _  
_

_"_ _Fury knew you'd want me to join up." She finally said. "He asked me to keep an eye on you."_ _  
_

_"_ _Looking for what?" He didn't like the sound of what._

" _Signs of physical or mental deterioration, to keep him updated." She was doing her best to keep the explanation short and simple, and failing completely at it. "It's that simple."_ _  
_

_"_ _Did you know about Tahiti?" His disbelief at the possibility was obvious, and her expression enough of an answer. "How could you do that to me? After all we've been through, the years we spent together in ops..."_

" _He said it was essential you couldn't know." She insisted._ _  
_

_"_ _The time I spent sifting through the ashes with you in Bahrain?" He went on, beginning to lose his composure. "I gave you a second chance when I assembled..."_

" _I assembled this team!" She interrupted abruptly._

" _What?" He so hadn't seen that one coming._

" _I evaluated what was needed, and gave the assessment to Fury." She elaborated. "And he gave you the parameters for your unit."_ _  
_

_"_ _What was needed, May?" He knew already he wasn't going to like the answer._

" _Someone who could repair your body, a technician who could reprogram your brain, and a specialist to help me put you down if it had to be done." She enlisted in the most blank tone possible, before trying to make it better, and failing. "But I didn't do it for Fury... I did it for you, to protect you! I..."_

_She'd probably said more, most likely, as her mouth was still moving, but Phil had pretty much stopped listening at that point, and it reflected in the memory._ _  
_

_"..._ _but that's the truth." He eventually was hearing her again. "And I have nothing to do with the Clairvoyant or this Hydra threat we're up against. Hopefully," She signaled to her wounded arm with a sigh. "This helps prove that."_ _  
_

_"_ _I want to believe you," He admitted in an almost defeated tone. "But you've used that against me this whole time..."_

Skye pulled back as Ward made his arrival to inform them the shooting had stopped, she knew already what came after that. Still, her mind was completely focused on what she'd just seen, suddenly Phil's recent coldness regarding May made a lot more sense. And his words to her just earlier, which she'd happened to hear:

" _You're not a friend. But I do believe you're an ally. We need all the allies we can get."_

Skye hadn't understood his coldness back then, but after what she'd just seen... and the feelings that he'd experienced as it happened to him... she felt an incredible urge to hit Melinda May, and to curse in a way only dwarves did, according to her teachings, (or Asgardians who've had too much to drink, according to her Adar).

For what seemed like forever, not a word was said, Skye wasn't even sure how long she stood there, or sat, as she dropped into a chair at some point without consciously noticing.

"Skye...?" Phil asked eventually, worry obvious in his voice.

"I cannot believe it..." She finally whispered, raising her head to look at her AC. "I honestly cannot. I mean May... she... I..."

"I know." He nodded, he truly did.

"I expected better from her." Skye insisted. "I mean, I know she's all for the rules, and trusting the system and all that, but really... I just... I cannot understand..." She ran a hand through her hair in a nervous tick. "This is a betrayal. Maybe not like Garrett's, and everyone else who was Hydra, but this is a betrayal as well and..."

"And it's more personal." He added, understanding where she was going.

"Exactly!" Skye nodded empathically. "Because we're a family, and family is not supposed to... to go behind each other's backs in such a way, to betray each other like that..."

"History would say otherwise." He drawled with false calm. "I cannot even remember how many bloodlines were ended through betrayal in one way or another."

"That's not the point!" She half-snapped. "This is not supposed to happen to our family. For us to survive so many outside threats, only for this..." She shook her head as something suddenly occurred to her. "Are you sure it's a good idea to keep her with us?"

"Like I told her, she's not a friend, but I do consider her an ally. And we need her, to pilot the plane if for nothing else."

"Agent Triplett is a decent pilot, from what I've heard, and Ward could take over once he's back."

"Maybe... I just..."

"You don't want to give up on her just yet." She raised her hand to stop him from replying. "It's okay. I cannot say I understand, but it's just how you are. And considering that if it weren't for your willingness to give second chances I wouldn't be here, I'm the last person who should be throwing stones right now."

"You did not betray us..."

"I'm sure not everyone around here agrees." She shook her head. "Jemma told me the list of crimes Hand had on you, when she believed you to be Hydra: 'recruiting a known enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D.', that was me, the only reason they weren't after me as well is because they have no idea I'm the same person. Then the multiple accounts of disobedience of direct orders? My recruitment once again qualifies, and giving me a second chance after the mess with Miles, the thing in Italy, and Ian Quinn, and a hell of a lot of other things."

"None of which is your fault." Phil told her calmly. "They were my decisions." He made a pause before adding. "And now that you mention Miles, we didn't talk about it at the time, but what really happened then?"

"What do you mean what happened?" She couldn't help the defensive tone in her voice. "You already know what happened. You went after a hacker, I warned him so he could get away from you, then I went looking for him, slept with him, May found us before he could take off and I could get back to the Bus unnoticed."

"Exactly..." He began nodding.

"I screwed up." She finished.

"No." He shook his head then. "I don't think you did. I've always known you to be an intelligent girl Skye, even before I grew to trust you fully, even when I had doubts that I should have allowed you so close... I've always known you to be smart. And a smart girl wouldn't run the risk of being caught, especially knowing others could find her at any moment, only to have sex. There was another reason..." And suddenly he realized the truth. "You did it so we would catch you, catch him, didn't you?"

Silence reigned for what seemed like forever. Phil did not mind. He had no idea why it hadn't occurred to him before when it was obvious to him in that moment. Truly, Skye was much too smart to allow her hormones to get the best of her. And if it had been love motivating her... well, then Ward and he wouldn't have found her alone, living in a van. No, it wasn't about love, or about sex, and Skye really was as smart as he'd always thought. Why then had she allowed the team to think she had betrayed them, and for a guy like Miles? It was quite obvious to Phil that he was missing something, but he'd no idea what exactly.

"Remember when Darcy and I told you and Clint about our time together in college?" Skye asked in what seemed like a complete non-sequitur.

"I remember." Phil still answered her. "The two of you met in your second year, she was two years ahead of you, or something like that."

"Well, that depends on your opinion, considering she had changed mayors twice by that point, and changed it once more afterwards, when she finally settled on Poli-Sci." Skye clarified. "But yes, the point remains."

"You were friends for the rest of your time in college, until you were forced to disappear." Phil continued. "When the Board discovered you had faked your papers to get the scholarship. It was then that you erased yourself from all records."

"Pretty much, yes." Skye nodded before taking a deep breath and filling in the blanks. "As you already know, I grew up in foster care, being moved from family to family, believing they did not want me, when we now know it was part of a S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol meant to keep me safe." She let out a breath. "When I was sixteen I ran away from my latest family, tired of living like that. I spent a few weeks sleeping on parks, bus-stations, warehouses, abandoned apartments, even ERs sometimes... until the day Karen Wright found me..." She smiled wistfully at the memory. "She was an old lady who lived in Arizona, seventy-something years old. She owned a bakery and lived in a tiny apartment on the second floor, was completey self-suficient. She was awesome. The kind of grandmother I'd dreamt of having my whole life..." She took a moment to stop her voice from breaking before continuing. "She found me one evening, when I was taking refuge from the rain in a corner of an alley by the back-door of her bakery. I had a cold and a very high fever. She didn't know me from eve! Yet she still took a look at me and told me to get inside. She fussed over me for days, nursed me back to health. And when she learnt I had been living on the streets she refused to let me go." She sighed. "I slept in a cot in the office of her tiny apartment. She even felt bad she couldn't offer me anything better! She owed me nothing, didn't even know me, yet she wanted to give me so much, she gave me so much... I tried to leave a few times, did not feel comfortable taking so much from her, but she wouldn't let me go. So instead I began helping around. At first cleaning around the place, helping attend costumers during rush-hours; when she learnt I'd actually passed my Drivers-Ed class before dropping from High-School she gave me the keys to her van and put me in charge of the deliveries. Which she'd had to suspend the year before when her grandson left for college abroad and couldn't help around anymore. The whole thing gave her a little more money, which she insisted on using to get me things, like new clothes, shoes, better food, etc."

Skye did not know when she'd begun to cry, though the proof of that very thing was falling down her cheeks in that moment. Karen had been such an amazing human being... just like the woman who'd helped her mom during her pregnancy, in China: Yue.

"What happened?" Phil asked quietly.

"She died." Skye answered honestly. "It wasn't anything bad. Natural causes. I was there when she passed, and as she made me promise to pass on messages to her family, I stayed until they were all there. She had a big family: four children (three daughters and one son), nine grand-children, and two great-grand-children, with one more on the way; no husband, as he had died many years prior, early into their marriage, in fact. As it turned out, they all knew about me, Karen had told them about me during their phone calls. They were thankful that I'd been there for her, to help when they couldn't. They insisted that I stay after the funeral, for the will-reading. It turned out I was in it. Karen had left me all her savings (which weren't what most would call substantial, yet still a lot more than I'd ever had); she'd also left me the van. No one in the family contested the decision. They were planning on selling the bakery, as none of them could handle it, most did not actually live in town anymore, and they knew a man who was interested in buying it, a cook himself." She smiled sadly. "Karen always talked about the future, my future, about making a better life for myself than I'd had until then. She wanted me to go back to school, make something of my life. And I decided to give it a try. She'd actually bought me the books, had me study a bit every evening so I would know everything High-school would have taught me. So I went and presented my GED, got my High School Diploma, then applied for a full-scholarship for college. You know already how that went."

"You faked connections so they would give you the scholarship." Phil nodded.

"Yes." Skye didn't bother hiding the fact. "I knew it was wrong, but to be honest, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. It's not like I was saying I was Stark's daughter or anything!"

No she hadn't... though, as it turned out, Stark did have a daughter, but that was an entirely different story, and not important for their situation in that moment.

"When I met Miles he seemed like a nice, if somewhat quirky guy." Skye went on.

"I believe Darcy's words for him were that he was a 'creepy stalker'" Phil couldn't help the smirk.

"True." Skye agreed with a half-smirk of her own. "I just thought he was quirky. The thing is, he knew I could hack and he... he wanted me AC..." Her voice broke slightly at that point. "He was one of few to truly want me... like Karen, and the Bennets... So I didn't send him away, despite his strange quirks and stalking tendencies."

Phil tensed when hearing such a confession coming from the beautiful brunette sitting across from him; in that moment he wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms, embrace her tightly and never let her go, let her go he wanted her and always would... yet his fear was still there, all too real, and too much to allow him to follow his instincts, regardless of how loud they might be screaming at him.

"A couple of years later, as you know, I went to sign up for some summer courses and maybe an internship when I learnt that the authorities were looking through the files of everyone with a scholarship, looking for the one who'd faked their way in, following an 'anonymous tip' they had gotten." She went on. "You must think me utterly foolish, but it took me over a year to realize just who had given the authorities in the university that 'anonymous tip'..."

"Miles..." Phil realized it too right then.

"When he found me two weeks after I had to flee I was just so relieved to see a familiar face, and he wanted to help me!" She let out an almost hysterical giggle. "I didn't realize how awfully convenient the timing of it all had been. She left me alone just long enough for me to feel grateful towards him, so I wouldn't ask dangerous questions, would feel so thankful for his help I wouldn't wonder how he'd found me, how he'd even known I wasn't on campus anymore..." She shook her head. "So I went to work for his friend, repairing cell-phones and computers, and cleaning them from viruses and such. One night I got so drunk I actually thought it was a good idea to sleep with him and afterwards... I was so afraid I would lose the only familiar person I still had if I refused him, that I kept sleeping with him, let him call me his girlfriend. And eventually did what he'd always wanted: I joined the Rising Tide."

Phil was livid, beyond that even. To think that that bastard, Miles Lydon, had used Skye in such a way: for sex and for her hacking skills. Making her dependant on him, making her so afraid to be alone that she would rather be used by him. He wished he'd known about her before, years earlier, so he could have saved her from all that, saved her from the Rising Tide, from being used, saved her from Miles...

Skye was no 'damsel in distress', no 'princess in the tower' that needed her prince charming or knight in shining armor to 'slay the dragon' and save her; Phil knew that better than most. Skye was one of the strongest, most willful, independent women he'd ever met. Doesn't mean she didn't need help, didn't need someone to be there for her, maybe even help 'save her' from time to time... even from herself.

"It took me a full year to get the blinders off and begin seeing Miles for what he really was." Skye continued with her narrative. "I knew I needed to get away from him, though I did not know how at first. Then I realized it. The program I'd used to erase all sign of myself when I was found at college... I created papers to back it up, to explain everything about it, then loaded it in a flash-drive and with help from an independent intermediary, sold it."

"You sold it?" He wasn't expecting that one.

"Yeah, to a very big company too." Skye nodded. "Though, before you ask, I cannot actually tell you which one, or who exactly. They made me sign a confidentiality contract."

Phil nodded, something like that was to be expected, really.

"So I saved that money into a secret account, and began making preparations to leave both Miles and the Rising Tide." She went on. "I actually tried to do it in a semi-public way first. Miles knew about my past, he was actually the one who got me some of the things I had in that SD-card I showed you that day, including the Redacted S.H.I.E.L.D. file. I tried to get into S.H.I.E.L.D., legally I mean, filled an application to be an Agent and all."

"And they rejected you?" Phil was confused by that.

"Straight out, apparently being unable to give your parents name, or even a reliable surname is cause for rejection." She shrugged. "It was after that that I began doing my best to hack you. If I couldn't get into your files legally, I would do it the other way." She shook her head. "It was how I got noticed by the higher-ranking members of the Tide... because I was one of two, maybe three, in their number, who'd managed to hack into your databases, and the only one to manage it more than once." She was particularly proud of that. "Never imagined what that would bring me, but still, it's not like I regret it."

"So we became your exit strategy?"

"More or less. Not completely. I wasn't ready to disappear, and if Miles had suspected something at that point, things could have gone very bad, very quickly. So I let him think I would be spying on S.H.I.E.L.D." She snorted. "He really was an idiot. Considering I hardly told him anything during the weeks I was with you guys and he never realized it. He believed that it was all boring, and nothing interesting was happening."

And considering everything that had happened, just in the first week... the first day even! Yes, Miles had proved not to know her at all. And that regardless of how much power the Rising Tide might claim to have, they knew nothing either.

"During that last year, before this team but after I stopped living with Miles I mean, I lived in L.A." She went on. "You know that, of course, that's where you found me. It actually was more than a year, but that's not really the point. I was offered an out. I didn't live in my van all the time you know? In fact, after a few months the previous summer a friend invited me to live with him, he had a huge manor, way too much space for him, even with all the lady friends that lived with him." She chuckled. "I accepted."

"Lady-friends?" Phil practically choked.

"Nothing like what your dirty mind is thinking!" Skye smirked at having put the thought there. "Well, I'm sure some of them... but that wasn't the point. He employed most of them, either as assistants to him, to his other employees (he was a very powerful CEO), or sometimes to help his PI friend in some investigation or another. He liked me, liked my talents." She smiled, mostly to herself, remembering Josef. "He actually thought I was one of his new girls, as he called them, the first time we met, you know? He was used to taking new girls every few months, helped them for a while before they moved on. I actually was trying to hide from a bastard I'd just stolen over 10,000 bucks from."

"Stolen?!" Phil was shocked by that.

"They weren't for me!" She added right away. "The bastard had a wife he'd walked out on, and two young children, one of them was very sick. He kept ignoring the letters and calls from his wife, lawyers and even social-workers telling him he needed to pay for the children's needs, and especially the hospital bills of the little girl. When I met Maia, saw how desperate she was to keep her children safe, I knew I had to help. I tried talking to the bastard, shaming him, even threatening him into doing what was right. He ignored me, of course. So I hacked into his bank accounts, to get the money Maia needed. The guy was loaded! It's not like he would have even noticed the money missing, not with how he burned it on booze and hookers. Not sure what tipped him off, actually, but I had to run. I was in San Francisco at the time, had followed him all the way there from Los Angeles. Managed to get back to L.A. ahead of his thugs, but when they got too close I slipped into a private property to hide... turned out to be Josef's mansion. It was near the end of the summer and new girls had just arrived to the house, like I said before, he thought I was one of them. I agreed, just so I could stay for the night." She shook her head with a smile. "By the next morning he knew the truth, his security had caught the thugs as they were looking for me. I was sure I was done for. Yet, he found me entertaining... somehow. He insisted on having me in his payroll. And it's not like I actually had a job to speak of, and he was offering me a place to live aside from a salary, so I agreed. It was insane."

It really was, for many more reasons than those she'd told Phil already. She'd seen things during that summer living out of motel rooms, and sometimes her van, in the streets of L.A... and then when Josef turned out to be connected to everything freaky going on around... well, she supposed it could have been worse.

"So he took you in." Phil nodded. "How did you end up living in your van again, then?"

"A year later... things happened." She had no way of explaining without revealing secrets that weren't hers to tell. "A lot of stuff went down. Bad stuff. People died, things were blown up... Josef sent most of the girls away ahead of time, I stayed to help where I could. In the end he just could not stay anymore... he offered me to go with him, you know? Said he could give me a new life, if I went with him."

"Did you love him?" Phil couldn't help the slightest hint of jealousy in his voice.

"No, not at all, it wasn't like that between us." She hurried to reassure him. "He... has someone, beyond the girls, he has someone he loves with all his heart. I just... I saw him like an older brother. Our relationship might have begun as business, but he became very dear to me, and the way he took care of me... the last person who had done that was Karen. It was also what made me wary at first, afraid of losing him. And I guess, in the end, I did."

"Why did you not go with him then?"

"He and some others were moving to New York, to a new life... and I guess I just wasn't ready to give up the one I had at the time. I also... I felt that if I went with him I would be giving up my independence, and I did not want that. I wanted out, of course, of the Rising Tide, and Miles and all that. But I wanted it on my terms, not Josef's."

Phil nodded, he could understand the wish for achieving something on their own, at least somewhat. And it wasn't like he could complain about the final result. It had brought her to him, after all. If she had gone with Josef back then he probably would have never met her, would have never had her in his team and... yeah.

"And it wasn't that bad." Skye added, almost as if reading his mind. "It was thanks to my staying that I met you, met you all, after all."

"And Miles?" Phil wanted to know. "He did not try to help you after the mess you say you were in, in L.A.?"

"You have no idea what kind of mess I'm talking about, do you?" She inquired.

"Well no, but back I was in Ta... well, you know." He waved his hand weakly.

Truth be told, he hadn't the slightest idea where he'd been at that time. Maybe in that top-secret facility with the GH-325 and the body of the dead Jotun... maybe in some other place, just as classified, in recovery. There was a lot he still did not remember, from back then.

"It's okay AC." She smiled at him easily. "Though, if you did not know, if S.H.I.E.L.D. did not know... what makes you think he did?"

"You said things blew up?" He reminded her, though it almost sounded like a question.

"Gas-leak." She deadpanned. "You have no idea how 'blind and deaf' people can be when they truly do not want to know the truth." Her expression softened. "And I cannot tell you more than that, I'm afraid."

He couldn't complain, really, he had been the one to insist she needed to know how to keep a secret, that he needed to be sure she could do it... he could have never known she had been keeping secrets, her own and other people's, for years.

"But back to Miles." She returned to the original topic of the conversation. "He did not know, so he had no reason to go looking for me. We still met in Nevada every once in a while. And then came the day when you and Ward kidnapped me!"

"We did not..." He began in an almost self-righteous tone before he stopped, actually thought back to what had happened, and then smiled sheepishly. "I guess that's one way to look at it."

"I'll say!" She actually chuckled at him. "But that's okay AC, I promise I'm not mad." She winked at him. "The point is, I sent Miles a message telling him I was in... I think it was after Peru. But that's all I told him! That was the last time I communicated in any way with him before... you know..." She still cringed at the mere memory. "That, of course, was a mess of epic proportions."

"Indeed." He agreed. "Are you finally going to tell me what really happened that day?"

It still surprised her that he could actually see beyond her apparent betrayal, could realize there had been more to her actions back then. It did not matter if he hadn't seen it at the time, he realized it then, and that was more than she ever expected.

"I knew from the very start that there had to be more to it all than what had happened to Chao Ho Yin." Skye finally admitted. "If it had been truly about 'releasing the truth to the world', as he claimed, more things would have happened at the same time. Also, not even Yin's files were on the public domain, only passed through private, encrypted servers." She shook her head. "The mere fact that he had hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. when I was supposed to be 'on the inside' told me that something big was going on, big enough to forget that I was supposedly going to help them. So I sent him that text, warning him about Ward, so I could gain his trust once again. I arrived to the apartment ahead of him and used what little time I had to try and find some sign of whatever was going on... I found nothing. Then when he arrived I tried to get the truth out of him; when he lied to my face about the files, I knew something huge was going on." She snorted. "Though, I'll admit I never imagined it had been about money. Miles had seemed like many things, but never someone to do things for money..."

Silence hung between them for a few seconds, as Phil waited for her to finish explaining, knowing she would do it when she was ready. It didn't actually take that long, having begun, Skye couldn't help but want to get it all out. It was almost like a part of her had been dying to let it all out, and she'd finally gotten the chance:

"I never planned to have sex with him, you know?" She said with a shake of her head. "I kept trying to get him to tell me the truth, and he kept giving me evasives, and these looks... they tipped me off that something was really wrong, and I needed to know why. It was at that point that I began wondering if, whatever had happened to Jin, wouldn't end up putting you in danger as well. I knew I needed to find out. So when he kissed me I followed his lead." She let out a half-sigh full of self-deprecation. "He actually tried to question me, you know? After the sex, while I was getting dressed, he wanted to know what I'd been doing, what S.H.I.E.L.D. was like... 'inside the belly of the beast', were his exact words. I told him it was classified." she let out a dark chuckle. "He thought I was being funny. I tried to question him again, and failed. Then there was May, holding my top." She shook her head again. "I was actually thankful for her in that moment. I had already come to the conclusion Miles wouldn't tell me anything, and if his actions put you in danger, you needed to catch him. And I knew I would never be able to bring him in. Then, of course, you brought us both in, and he began reciting the frigging manifesto!"

"You kept telling us he was an upstanding guy..." Phil couldn't help but point out.

"I know, pretty stupid, huh?" She let out a breath. "I knew he wasn't not really, though I never imagined he could sink so low. I only said that, because, well. I rather you all thought I'd slept with him out of love, than thinking me a slut..."

"We would never think something like that of you, Skye."

"It's what I thought of myself."

Phil wasn't sure how to respond to that, he knew any words would be hollow, there was no way of making someone change the way they thought about themselves simply with words; and Skye had said she 'thought', which hopefully meant she didn't feel that way about herself anymore.

"You know, when it was all over, after you gave Miles that bracelet and I told him I was staying if you let me... he told me I'd changed, that I wasn't the person he'd known." She murmured thoughtfully. "But he was wrong. I was the same person I'd always been; he just hadn't truly known me before. It was at that point that I decided to stop hiding, to stop pretending to be someone I wasn't just so I wouldn't be alone. I realized I didn't need him anymore."

"You had us." He nodded.

"Well, to be fair, at the time I didn't know for sure that I had you." She admitted. "But it was enough knowing that I was no longer dependent on him. I could be myself. I realized I did not need an 'exit strategy', I could just walk away. And I did."

"You could have walked away from us too." Phil pointed out. "You could have stepped off that plane in that moment... something tells me we would have never found you."

"No, you wouldn't have." She admitted freely. "But I didn't want to leave you. Even after I betrayed you so callously, let you down right when you'd begun trusting me... I wanted nothing more than to have one more chance, a chance to be one of you, to truly be part of your family. And you gave me that chance..." She fixed her eyes of his, trying to communicate the depth of her feelings, her gratitude. "I will never be able to thank you enough for what you did."

"The things you've done since then, for S.H.I.E.L.D., for the team, for us as individuals and a family, have been more than enough." He assured her. "Remember we are a family Skye, there can never be debts among family."

She could only smile to him.

They both could still remember that night, when it had all seemed so terribly fragile, their trust in each other hanging by a thread, one just about to tear, and she'd felt like a piece of glass, ready to fall and shatter into a thousand pieces. Yet it hadn't, she hadn't, they hadn't. They'd managed to endure, and made it so far since then: She'd managed to recover the trust of the team, they'd become stronger together.

They'd been through so much, the team, the family, together. From the Berserker Staff, an alien virus, ghosts, the Centipede Soldiers, Mike Peterson, Ian Quinn, Raina, Phil's kidnapping, Skye's shooting, Loki's return, Cybertek, the Clairvoyant, and now Hydra... they had survived so much, and what was yet to come. They would survive it as well, together, all of them, as a family.

**xXx**

Astrid stood beside Phil as they watched the feed from several cameras that had caught the confrontations between loyal SHIELD agents and Hydra members all around the world; though the most impressive by far was the footage of what had happened in Washington, with the Triskelion falling into pieces, three brand new Helicarriers being shot down from the air on the very day they were being launched...

The young Agent hated being the bearer of bad news, but there was little good she could report on. The fact that there were only three bases confirmed still under SHIELD control (and that was including the Hub and the Fridge) was dis-heartening. Yet Phil refused to give up, and like she'd said before, she would always follow where he lead so...

"You were right all along." She admitted quietly. "Having all this out there in the world makes it too dangerous, and now there's no one left to protect it..."

And to think they'd just taken down the Rising Tide... made her wonder why she'd even bothered. It's not like the information didn't all (or most of it) end up out there anyway.  
"There's us." Phil reminded her. "We were lucky enough to make it through. The Triskelion, the Hub... those battles are just the beginning of this war. Hydra's out there now, but at least our team's still intact. We can fight them, and we will."

His words, while they might have seemed as useless platitudes to some, and they most likely would have been, coming from anyone else... but the fact that it was him saying those words, with that quiet confidence in his voice, with such seriousness in his eyes. She couldn't help but believe him. And by the way several Agents around them either relaxed on their spots or became all the more focused, they were feeling the same thing. Phil was a born leader, probably had always been, he just hadn't realized it yet.

Hours later it seemed like they just couldn't catch a break. Right when she finally, finally! Had good news to deliver, that the Cube had been retaken by SHIELD, Colonel Talbot's call came in. The man was a bastard, that much anyone could tell. Astrid also needed no supernatural abilities to tell he was lying, both about having good intentions regarding SHIELD, and the whole 'peacekeeping' thing of his forces. Which is why it wasn't that much of a surprise when AC told her to announce 'Odyssey Protocol'.

It wasn't much of a surprise either that a number of Agents chose to stay and surrender. Some of them were old enough to retire, and most were so low-level that it was unlikely the military would bother with them. No, Talbot and his men wanted Coulson and his team, and anyone else who might be Level 7 and above, which was exactly why they couldn't stay.

Astrid had planned on calling Ward as soon as they were on the air (and before they reached the kind of altitude where the phone would no longer work), however, that plan was put aside when AC asked her to 'use her talents' to 'erase' all of them from all records. Astrid couldn't help but be scandalized by the idea. It was true she'd done it before, she'd created the program for it too, but she'd never had actual birth-records, or any records that were completely truthful, completely her own; she couldn't help but wonder if Phil knew what he was asking for. She tried to explain, told him they would all effectively be ghosts... she still didn't think he got it.

So she decided on an alternative to his plan. She took everything she could find on each and everyone of them; yet instead of erasing it completely, she sealed it. A separate encrypted file for each team member. Once the danger of the military and the immediate situation had passed each of them would be able to decide, on their own, if they wanted to recover their old lives, to get a full new life, or to remain as ghosts. Really, that was the kind of decisions they deserve to make, each and every one of them, as individuals.

Even that explanation didn't make it any easier when she had to collect everyone's badges, the last task Phil had asked her to do. Even with May and Triplett on the plane, she was still the one AC trusted the most, and she wasn't about to let him down.

"Did you get in touch with Ward yet?" He asked her almost as soon as she stepped into his office.

"Not yet..." She admitted, surprised at her own forgetfulness. "To be perfectly honest, I forgot I was going to do that."

"What...?" He was as surprised as she.

"Yeah... got working on our 'clean slates'." She admitted. "By the way, I rewrote the program, so they aren't really permanent. Once this whole mess is over you will all be able to regain your old lives, if you want of course." She shrugged. "Or you could always get completely new ones too."

"That's good." Phil nodded, looking thoughtful. "I suppose FitzSimmons would like that chance."

"I thought something like that, it's why I made the modification to the old program." She told him in confidence. "I mean, it's the same to me in the end, but they actually have families, I didn't want them to lose all chance of ever getting it back."

Phil just nodded; she was right of course, and he was glad she had been thoughtful enough to take such precautions, he hadn't been thinking clearly enough when he gave her that order. He, pretty much like her, did not care much about losing an identity, and it was likely that Ward and May would be the same, but he did not know Triplett enough, and FitzSimmons actually had families outside SHIELD that would miss them if they disappeared just like that.

"Has Natasha sent any more messages?" He asked next.

"She left me one, saying she was okay, as was Captain Rogers." Astrid commented, fishing her personal phone out. "She said they were going off-grid, because of both Hydra and the military. And..." She opened a message to show it to Phil. "Clint and Darcy are on the move. Apparently someone in the offices tipped off Darcy that the military were going after her boyfriend... they seem to be suspicious of him because of the fact that he left SHIELD less than a year before this mess happened. They supposedly wanted to question him."

"They will do a lot more than that, if they find him." Phil muttered grimly.

"Which is exactly why they decided to take their things and go." Astrid qualified. "Darcy sent me a brief message saying they were laying low and would try to meet with us at some point. She's hoping we will agree to put them up, at least for a while."

"Of course." He nodded right away. "It will be no problem."

"And the help might do us good. Especially if you are planning on having us move against Hydra now, recover the taken bases and all that."

"Maybe... first we need to find a safe place where to rest and finish repairs on the Bus."

"Well, I used some magic to fix the leak on the fuel line, so we're good on that front, at least for the time being. But we will still need a safe place to rest, and eat..."

Phil nodded, once again he knew she was right, even if he wasn't sure what they could do just yet.

"The badges?" He asked suddenly, remembering the other thing he'd asked of her.

"This wasn't easy." She pointed out with a sigh, signaling to the badges as she placed them on his desk. "Jemma got choked up when I asked for hers."

It was true, Leo too had seemed a bit lost as he handed his; May and Triplett hadn't said a word, but Astrid could tell they didn't like it. The young woman had just pulled her badge out of the inner pocket of her leather jacket when she found herself suddenly swaying.

"...trid... Astrid!" She could barely hear Phil calling her, but he sounded worried. "Skye!"

"AC...?" She wasn't fully sure if she was actually speaking, though she tried.

"Skye, what's wrong?!" He asked as he hurried around his desk to hold her up.

"I... dizzy... so dizzy..." She mumbled, her legs folding beneath her.

Phil did his best to hold her up, but it was so sudden the best she could do was drop to his knees with her in his arms, make sure she wouldn't get hurt in any way... though it almost seemed like something else was hurting her...

"Skye tell me what is wrong!" He practically demanded, shaking her in an attempt to keep her conscious. "Tell me what I can do to help!"

He was about to insist when, abruptly, Skye's whole body shimmered, her human disguise seemingly washing away as she changed into her elven visage. Her eyes snapped open wide: blue irises so dark they seemed to blend with the dilated pupils... the young woman's eyes were open, but she wasn't looking at him, it was as if she were something else, something beyond him, beyond their current surroundings:

"The crows are losing their feathers one by one... yet the ravens are still without a nest. One nest is cold, vulnerable, will not last the season; another warm, ideal, hasn't been found yet." She began reciting in a lilting, somewhat echoing voice in a language Phil knew very little of, but could more or less understand, as she'd been teaching him with help of some magic. "The wolves fight the foxes, but foxes are cunning, they won't give up without a fight... Fire and steel will clash against the shield... it must not be allowed to break..." A cry left her lips, before her tone began sounding more rushed, and almost erratic. "Victory is at stake... the Coward... the Traitor... Family will be torn apart..."

"What?!" Phil couldn't help his cry.

He wasn't expecting that last part, even with what Skye had told him before, about his mother's prophecy... and everything seemed to indicate she herself was giving a prophecy in that moment. He wanted her to clarify, to help him understand. But it was useless, before a single word could be said Menel's eyes seemed to roll into the back of her head and her body went limp into his arms, though not before returning to her human visage.

He didn't understand what the hell had just happened.

**xXx**

In another place, hundreds of miles above the ground, a woman with long mahogany hair and cherry red bangs framing her face panted on the floor of the cargo area of her plane, fighting to keep breathing, even as her mind tried to understand how she could have been so wrong about Agent Ward's loyalties and intentions. And how she had ended up giving him the very weapon he'd just used against her. She moved her hand erratically, trying to find something, anything that might help, the move made her aware of the bracelet she was wearing, the unexpected gift from Agent Avery, right before she'd left the Hub. She wondered if that would let the girl know she was dead, if she would suspect who was responsible for her murder. Hopefully yes, most likely no, after all, Grant Ward was her team-mate; and if there was something Victoria had noticed, and even admitted to admiring to a degree, it was the level of loyalty the members of Coulson team had towards each other. She could still remember Agent Simmons standing up to her, defending Coulson even when all the evidence was stacked against him...

The last thing Victoria Hand saw, was Ward's cold expression as he pointed the gun at her again, one more shot and she would be dead for sure. What neither of them, or anyone else on the vessel really, could have expected (the little surprise in the bracelet), was when, at the exact same moment Ward shot, magic enveloped her, and swallowed her whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked me to save Victoria. At first I thought it would be impossible, but there you have it. You'll see more about how everything turns out in that front in the next chapter. 
> 
> I hope you liked the prophecies... you're welcome to make your guesses on what each part of it means. 
> 
> Also, remember to make your suggestions regarding the crossovers. And I need public opinion regarding one of them: Smallville. I love Lex, so I'm using this opportunity to make him a good guy, however,what I would like your opinion on, is the pairings that will be used for those characters, options are: 1) ChloeClark, LoisOliver, LexOFC (I have someone specific in mind, but if I do it, it'll be a surprise), 2) ClarkLois, OliverChloe, LexOFC (the same as before), 3) ClarkLex, ChloeOliver, LoisRichard (or another less important man) or 4) ClarkLex, LoisOliver, Chloe(a hero or agent) So, tell me what you would prefer please! My muse cannot make up her mind on that front! 
> 
> See ya next week!


	3. Coward and Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where Ward shows his true colors, and decisions are made

**Chapter 3. Coward and Traitor**

Menel blinked several times, looking around her, trying to find something that told her where she was; and then she noticed her surroundings properly, the single beds with white sheets. She was standing in the middle of a hospital room. The bed closest to her had a tag that read "Jane Doe", however, the moment she looked at the person on the bed, the she-elf knew exactly who she was:

"Agent Hand..." She whispered in shock.

She didn't look good, not at all. A quick look at the notes made by some doctor or another on the chart at the foot of the bed revealed a GSW to the chest, critical blood-loss, a practically shattered rib and serious trauma; the doctors were saying it was a miracle that she was still alive.

"It worked..." She whispered in a mix of shock and awe. "The bracelet really worked..."

It had, it also explained why she had dropped unconscious in AC's office. Because she knew for sure she wasn't awake in that moment... though she didn't remember ever having astral projected while unconscious, especially without consciously choosing a target. Maybe her magic on the bracelet was enough to call her there.

Pushing all conjectures aside, the brunette decided to focus on what was important: the bracelet had worked, the spells she'd woven into it to help save Agent Hand's life in case of an emergency had been activated just in time... and apparently drained her badly enough she had collapsed, and was still unconscious. She wondered how worried AC was...

As if that were some kind of cue to herself, Menel noticed her surroundings vanishing, or maybe she was the one vanishing? She didn't know for sure, all she knew was that she was waking up... which was hopefully a good thing.

**xXx**

"Ouch..." Was the first word to come out of Astrid's lips as she recovered consciousness. "My head's killing me..."

By the time she opened her eyes, a handful of seconds later she could see Phil standing by her bedside, worry etched in his every feature.

"Skye..." He whispered softly, touching her shoulder lightly. "Are you alright?"

"I... I think so..." She murmured, even as she assessed herself. "A bit groggy..." She tried to sit up, only to fall back against the pillows almost right away. "Oh... head-rush..."

"Skye!" Phil worried even more at that.

"It's okay, I'm okay. Ju... Just v-vertigo" She hurried to reassure him before sitting up again, this time more slowly. "Ca...can I have s-some water, please-e?"

Phil immediately offered her a glass of cool water with a straw, as well as a couple of pills for the headache she'd first complained of.

"No thank you." She took the glass but refused the pills.

"You said your head was hurting." He commented, returning the pills to their bottle.

"It is, but the pills won't do any good." She explained. "Things like aspirin and the like simply don't work on me, most simple meds don't actually. It made things harder when I got sick which, thankfully, wasn't often. For the longest time I did not understand why such a thing happened to me... knowing what I know it seems only logical."

Of course, since she wasn't human, it was to be expected that some medicines wouldn't work on her. Only the stronger ones, used for surgeries and chronic ailments, did anything to her, and most of the time she would need high doses to manage a low effect (something Simmons had at least half-discovered while Skye was in the medpod, after being shot).

"So what can I do to help?" He insisted, hating seeing her in pain, especially when he had been unable to stop her from getting that way.

"Sadly, nothing." She shrugged slightly. "A headache is too small a thing for me to use high-end meds. Besides, they would probably cloud my mind, and that's probably not a good idea if we need to get to work, which we probably do... where are anyway? This doesn't look anything like my bunk on the bus... or the infirmary."

"We're in Providence." Phil explained to her. "A highly classified SHIELD facility Fury set up without telling anyone else, in case of an emergency, apparently. We actually arrived late yesterday afternoon, you were still unconscious, have been for almost 24 hours now."

"Wow... I'd never slept that long." She admitted thoughtfully.

She opened her mouth to say something else when she noticed the tension in his every muscle.

"Is everything alright AC?" She inquired, worried herself.

"Upon arrival Agent Koenig, the man in charge of this place, informed us that the Fridge has fallen." Phil told her seriously.

"The Fridge..." Skye's eyes widened instantly. "What about Ward?!"

"He's alright..." Phil shook his head and corrected himself. "He has a couple of broken ribs, a fractured cheekbone and a number of nasty cuts and bruises, but he'll be alright. He arrived yesterday evening. Agent Hand and her men on the other hand..."

Skye was feeling so lost at the development she didn't even remember about what she'd seen in her unexpected 'astral walk' while sleeping.

"However, that's not the worst part." Phil admitted grimly. "All the devices, weapons and others that SHIELD kept secure in the facility are now in Hydra's hands... all the prisoners have also been released. According from what we were able to find online, they're already creating havoc."

"Ian Quinn..." Skye couldn't help but whisper in horror, a hand pressed to her middle.

"I'm afraid so." Phil nodded. "And Skye, to be perfectly honest, he's not the worst to escape. Quinn is a sociopath, but a lot of the others were downright psychopaths... a lot of them also have some kind of ability..."

"Wonderful..." She muttered sarcastically.

It was in that very moment that she identified the kind of tension on his body, it was the way he held himself whenever they were about to go on a dangerous mission.

"Wait a second, you're going after them?" She asked in shock. "I mean, you're going after them, as in, right now?!"

"It's necessary." Phil told her.

"Very well." She nodded, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Just let me splash some water on my face and get changed..."

"No Skye." Phil stopped her from getting up. "I want you to stay here!"

"Oh, not you too!" She couldn't help but half-whine. "I've had enough of Ward treating me like a delicate flower, too weak to fight for herself, I don't need the same kind of treatment from you! I have been trained by..."

"I would never treat you like that, Skye, I hope you know that." He stated in a quiet, though no less intense tone of voice. "It's not that I don't think you could do it, be of help; it's just that there are other things I need you for."

"Alright." She nodded, calming down. "Tell me, what's my mission?"

"I need you to try and track down the inmates who escaped, use satellite feeds, surveillance video and pictures, anything you can find." He said. "I'm giving you carte blanche to hack whatever and whoever you need to, to get the information as fast as possible. As long as you're not caught, of course, the last thing we need is to get the government after you, after any of us, on charges of espionage, or something like that. Also, if you can, find out what happened exactly in the Fridge it would help a lot."

"In the Fridge?" That caught her by surprise. "Didn't Agent Koenig tell you, and Ward?"

"They did, they each told me all they know." Phil admitted. "But there's something that just doesn't add up. I don't even know what it is, just that there's something..."

"Very well, I'll check it out." She nodded again.

She trusted him, enough to know that if he had a bad feeling there probably was a reason for it. And with freedom to hack whatever she might need...

"Well, what are we waiting for?" She asked, finally pushing herself to her feet. "Lets get to work! We have things to hack and a world to save!"

Phil couldn't help the laughter that escaped him at her words, her antics... if only it were as easy as she made it sound...

**xXx**

It certainly wasn't that easy, or that quickly. Skye was directed to where she could take a long, hot shower and then to eat something (a full meal since she'd missed several being unconscious) before Jemma allowed her outside the sleeping area of the secret facility. Then, once she was ready, and fully back in her 'Agent Avery' persona (tight ponytail, leather jacket and boots and everything), she had to go meet the Agent in charge of the place.

"Agent Koenig, sir?" She asked as she stepped into the man's office.

"Ah, you're the one I was missing." He nodded at her.

"Astrid Avery." She introduced herself, offering her hand.

"Yes, Agent Avery!" He shook her hand very enthusiastically. "You're a legend! I am from Communications myself, you know? What you've done, especially when taking down the Rising Tide... a legend, truly."

Astrid couldn't help herself, she blushed bright red. Really, it was one thing to hear her superiors commending her briskly on a job well done, and another thing entirely hearing the admiration, the awe, in Koenig's voice as he spoke of her achievements.

"You've heard about me." She blurted out before smoothing out. "I'm very sorry I cannot say the same, sir. Communications I may be, but that's probably because I've always been better at handling machines than people..."

That was actually true, for the most part (it had been in the past, at least), and the official excuse why even though people 'remembered' her from the Academy and other things before the month she'd actually been there, she didn't remember that many people.

"AC... I mean, Agent Coulson told me I was to report to you..." She commented uneasily.

She really would have preferred to have her AC there with her, at least until she could familiarize herself with the place, but that just hadn't been possible. Phil was out hunting down one of the 'former residents' of the Fridge, who apparently was extremely obsessed with a cellist from Portland, and would be a serious danger for her unless they did something about it.

Astrid wasn't a fool, she knew what wasn't said, she'd heard about Phil's cellist before, from his own mouth even. How much he'd loved her... how much a part of him still held onto the memory of her... the young woman knew that with SHIELD pretty much gone there was a chance Phil would decide to ignore all protocols and rules and reconnect with her, look for a second chance between them; and as much as it may pain her, the possibility of losing him before ever really having him, she'd already decided not to do or say anything that might compromise that chance. He deserved to be happy, and she would be happy for him, no matter what he decided...

"Yes, of course." Koenig turned to lead her out right away. "If you'll follow me this way we'll get you through Orientation right away, and then you can have your pass and access to the whole facility." He turned to look at her over her shoulder. "Agent Coulson said to grant you full access to our Communications Room, after you had passed."

Which meant he was fully confident she would pass, it was good to know.

The 'Orientation' turned out to be a polygraph test, which almost made Astrid have a heart-attack, though she managed to keep her expression smooth and stay as relaxed as possible. If AC thought she could pass the test, that meant she could.

It wasn't really that hard in the end.

"Can I have your full name?" Koenig asked.

"Astrid Avery." She answered promptly.

Koenig's brow furrowed.

"Is that your name or an alias?" He inquired, curious.

"My name." She told him. "It hasn't always been my name, I'll admit. But it is my name right now, legally and all."

After a second or two more Koenig nodded, satisfied, and moved on.

The rest of the test went quiet quickly, until they reached the final question:

"S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer exists." Koenig declared seriously. "The agency has been labeled a terrorist organization. So why are you here?"

"This team is my family..." She said simply.

They weren't her only family anymore, not like when she'd first learnt the truth of her origins... but they were still part of her family, and she valued that.

"Congratulations Agent Avery." Koenig smiled brightly at her as he offered her a pass like the one hanging from his own neck.

"Thank you, Agent Koenig." She smiled, taking the pass.

"Should I lead you to the Communications Room now?" He offered.

"Yes..." She began, then changed her mind. "Only, could you direct me to where Agent May might be first, please? I need to talk to her."

During the Orientation/Interrogation she'd finally remembered about her little 'astral trip' earlier; someone needed to get Hand, before Hydra happened to find her, and since Phil had gone to get Daniels, taking Jemma, Leo and Triplett with him... she would have to talk to May about the situation. The brunette still did not like the woman, she'd lied to AC about very delicate matters; but she was still family, and Astrid knew she could be trusted, and someone trusted really needed to go get Agent Hand...

Astrid actually met Ward on his way to see May, Koenig told her she was on the Bus, probably working on repairs (something more definite than her rushed used of magic on the fuel line).

"Skye...!" He called the moment he saw her.

"Sh!" She hissed at him instantly. "When are you going to learn not to call me by that name Ward?! It's dangerous..."

"There's no one else here..." He half-mocked at here.

"We're in a SHIELD facility, that very likely has cameras and microphones embedded in the walls, can you begin to imagine the people who would hear you calling me by that name?" She retorted, probably more harshly than was entirely necessary.

"There's no SHIELD anymore..." He began.

"Doesn't mean we don't have enemies out there." She reminded him. "Quinn is free! Wanna guess what he'll do if he learns I'm not as dead as we've claimed?!"

That actually seemed to be enough to shut him up.

"Ok, I get it, not calling you anything but Avery, Agent Avery." He said, only half-mocking her.

He did worry about her enough to take that risk seriously... which reminded her of the mess that had happened in the Hub, which she still wasn't happy about! Then, right as she raised her head to look at him and tell him exactly what she was thinking... she stopped. It was just for a fraction of a second, but she could have sworn there was a shadow in his expression, a darkness she'd never seen before (though she had sensed it), one she did not like, it gave her a bad feeling. And even though it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, Astrid could barely hold back the shiver; in that moment she wanted nothing more than to get away from Ward, which was shocking in and of itself, and yet, she'd never been one to ignore her instincts, they had saved her life more than once, even before her heritage had been unlocked and her magic added to her instincts. Which meant there was something really wrong...

"So... that drink...?" He said, standing in front of her.

"Eh...? What?" So lost was she in her magical senses that, for a moment, she had no idea what he was talking about.

"The drink I was going to take you up on?" He inquired. "We talked about it back in the Hub..."

"Ah! That drink, yes!" Yes, she'd been planning on telling him her thoughts about what had happened in the Hub, but considering what she was sensing, that probably wasn't a good idea. "Rain check? I really need to talk to May..."

"I..." He seemed honestly surprised by that. "Yeah, sure, rain check."

"I'll meet you later for that drink, I promise." She told him as she walked past him.

And yet she refused to look back at him, almost afraid of what he might see in his eyes, or what he might see in hers... she really needed to talk to May.

**xXx**

Astrid found May on the Bus, realized the woman had probably been working on the necessary repairs so they could use it again. It was a good thing, especially since Astrid had no way of knowing how long her little spell would have kept the leak on the fuel line blocked.

"May?" She asked, approaching the woman in her bunk. "Can I talk to you?"

"If you're here to yell at me for keeping secrets from Coulson..." May began, turning to stare at Astrid directly.

"No I... why would I do that?" The younger woman honestly wasn't expecting that.

"I know he told you what happened." May explained with a shrug. "Ever since you found him on the desert, he's been trusting you more and more... it's not a bad thing. So I imagine you know already what happened..."

"I do know." Astrid didn't bother trying to hide it, there was no point. "But like I said, I'm not here to yell at you about it, or anything. Why would I do that?" She shook her head. "I may not like it, I may not even fully understand it... but it's not really my business. It's yours, yours and AC's, and I really hope you'll settle this matter, sooner rather than latter..." It was until that point that she noticed the bag on May's bed. "You're leaving?!"

"Yes." May kept packing even as she said that.

"But why?!" Astrid couldn't believe it.

"Astrid..." She let out a breath before finally sitting on the bed, signaling to the girl to take a seat as well. "It's nothing against you, or anyone else from the team..."

"We're a family May." Astrid insisted, her voice going through an octave... or two. "We're supposed to stay together..."

"How can I stay where I'm not wanted?" The older woman sounded oddly vulnerable as she asked that question. "And Phil really doesn't want me here..."

"He's angry... and more than that, he's hurt." Astrid tried to explain. "So much has happened in such a short time... Once things settle down a bit and we, all of us, get the chance to process everything that's happened, he'll realize there's no reason to really take his anger out on you." Her voice turned quieter. "You cannot leave May... what are we going to do without you?"

"You don't really need me."

"Yes we do! And I'm not talking about pilots, or fighters, or anything like that. We need you! I know that, and AC does too... he just needs to remember it."

May actually hugged Astrid at that, something that surprised both women, though neither commented on it.

"You're still leaving, aren't you?" The girl asked quietly after a while.

"Yes." May admitted just as quietly, as she pulled back from the hug. "There's something I need to do... it might even help smooth out things with Phil. I'll rejoin you as soon as I can, I promise."

She didn't explain where she was going, or what she planned on doing, neither did Astrid ask; she had learnt a lot about the need for secrecy in their line of work, and in their lives in general; and that sometimes it wasn't a matter of trust, or lack-of, sometimes it was just a matter of protecting the other, not trying to bother, or even just that they were trying to achieve something on their own. And there was nothing wrong with that.

"Ok." The girl simply nodded, before remembering, again, the reason why she'd wanted to talk to May originally. "There's something I need to ask of you."

"What is it?" May was intrigued by that.

"It's about Agent Hand." Astrid began explaining, though not before doing a quick, silent spell to make sure no one would overhear them.

"Victoria?" May definitely wasn't expecting that. "She's dead. Died when the Fridge was taken, Ward told us when he came..."

"Actually, she's not..." Astrid admitted, almost sheepishly.

Though the fact that Ward had said that, and so confidently, was probably another confirmation that there was something really wrong with him, even if she had no idea what, exactly (or maybe she just did not want to know...).

As she heard Astrid explained what had happened, what she had done... Melinda could only marvel. The kind of power the brunette had inside her, and she used it to save people, even people who she hardly knew, and who probably would never know they'd been saved by a sorceress, or by anyone at all! And she was practically a child still!

It was amazing and humbling at the same time, for the hardened agent, to see the mix of power, innocence and will in the girl's eyes. To know that if anyone outside of their little, dysfunctional family found out the truth about her, about her lineage, they would condemn her for who her father was; it was unlikely they would see past that, and see her, see the amazing young woman who tried so hard... Melinda could only be thankful that she was counted among the people the girl cared for, that she was part of that crazy family... she would do her best to protect the girl in return, with all she was...

**xXx**

Astrid spent the rest of the day in the Comm/Sat room, typing like crazy, hacking satellites from several organizations, including Stark's and the NSA's, as well as hijacking feeds from security cameras all around the world, until every single screen on the room was showing a different place, some even switching every few seconds between angles of the same area.

"This is amazing..." Koenig declared when they were done. "And a bit scary too."

It was, and she knew it. Not even when she was with the Rising Tide had she done something as huge as what they were doing right then. But it was necessary.

She'd kept Koenig around with the excuse of wanting to be-friend the man, as they had 'come from the same place and all that'. She'd also needed some help to get everything set up and... if she was honest with herself, she was at least a little bit afraid to leave Koenig alone with Ward. Even if she had still no idea what the feeling of 'wrongness' she got was (or she was in extreme denial) she still wanted to do her best to protect Koenig.

In the evening Astrid got a message in her private phone, from May. It was short and to the point:  _"Victory secured... Errands yet to run... Will rendezvous in 24."_  The brunette couldn't help but breathe at least a little easier after that, knowing Agent Hand was safe. She still did not know what else May needed to do, but that was alright. At least one thing seemed to be going according to plan... it gave her hope other things would fall into place, eventually.

"Hey S... Astrid..." Ward called suddenly.

The brunette couldn't help it, she practically jumped from her seat at the voice, and it took all her focus to keep her magic under wraps, but she managed.

"Ward!" She still cried out as she spun the chair around to face him, slapping him on the chance to discharge at least some of the tension. "Are you crazy?! Don't go around scaring me like that!"

"I'm sorry..." He didn't sound sorry, at all. "Didn't mean to scare you that much. Are you done yet? You've been working all day."

"For the most part." She answered, a bit evasively. "Some of the satellites have yet to fully connect, but that's because I had to take the feed on a complicated loop so we wouldn't run the risk of being found if they happen to detect the hack." She tried to sound flippant. "AC's orders, I am not to be found."

And while he had given those orders, she was delaying some things on purpose, because if her growing suspicious (which she was finally allowing herself to have) proved true, then it was likely Ward would do something, something bad, when that feed was revealed. Which meant she would need to act before that happened.

"I'll just set things to continue running without me." She announced, turning to the computer again. "Hopefully it'll all be ready by tomorrow morning."

"So, you'll have that drink with me then?" He inquired.

"Sure." She nodded, not actually looking back at him. "Why don't you go ahead. I'll join you in five minutes or so."

"Sure you don't prefer I help you with something or..."

"No, I'll be done in a moment, you go ahead." She insisted, trying not to sound nervous. "Why don't you choose a drink. I'm sure you'll know more than me regarding what's good... I've never had money for anything more than cheap beer."

That wasn't true, of course. Her year living with Josef had afforded her a lot of opportunities. He was a fan of expensive things (furniture, art, places, food, wines...); but then again, as it had been proven more than once in the past, especially since her return, Ward didn't really know her, not the real her anyway...

Ward had just left the room, closing the door behind himself, thankfully, when Koenig... Eric, as they'd taken to calling each other by their first times at some point during the long afternoon working together, approached her.

"Is everything alright Astrid?" He asked her softly.

"Wha...?" She was honestly surprised by his question. "Yes, of course! Why shouldn't I be?"

"Well, honestly?" He asked her with a small smile. "You seem more than a bit nervous, and not the kind of nervous I would expect of a girl going on a date... but the kind of nervous an Agent going on a dangerous mission tries hard not to show..." He was quite blunt for an easy-going guy. "I may not be a field-agent like you seem to have become, Astrid, but I can see a few things... computers is not all I'm good at. I actually am a certified profiler... and I can tell that you are afraid right now... something about Agent Ward terrifies you Astrid..."

"Oh Eric..." She whispered, turning to him.

"You know I can help you, right?" He asked her right away, so willing to help his new friend, the first he'd had in so long. "Just tell me what's wrong."

The whole thing just endeared him all the more to her, she was almost willing to add him to her (seemingly ever growing) family... and it was precisely for that very reason, that the brunette knew she had to protect him, from the darkness she could feel growing, the darkness she could feel anchored on Ward.

"I'm really sorry Eric..." She whispered, brushing her fingers against his temple. "I promise you I'm doing this to keep you safe..."

That was the last thing Eric heard before he collapsed unconscious, head onto her lap.

Astrid knew she had to act fast, least her ruse be discovered. The little spell she had used would keep Eric asleep for a few hours, hopefully long enough for him to be out of danger. So with that in mind she used some more magic (seeing how she did not have the strength to carry him on her own) to get him into the supplies closet (where it was least likely that Ward would find him). She even added a simple cloaking spell, meant to break at the same time the sleeping spell ended. Then she prayed it would be enough, and went to meet Ward in the lounge.

Ward was actually waiting for her outside the lounge. She wasn't expecting it, and Astrid almost tripped over her own feet at the sight of him.

"Skye!" He called, hurrying to her side.

She was focusing so hard on keeping all her feelings concealed she even forgot to chide him for using her real name... again.

"It's alright." She assured him immediately, straightening. "I'm alright. So... have you chosen our drinks yet? I'm thirsty..."

It sounded stupid to her own ears, but she didn't know what else to say, she just hoped he would not see through her facade.

"Actually, I'm afraid we're gonna have to take yet another rain check on that drink." He told her.

"What...? But why?" She wasn't expecting that.

"I just got a call from Fitz." He answered, waving around the secure phone Phil had left them with. "The team needs us to back them up."

"What?!" She so wasn't ready for undercover assignments... which was pretty much how it felt right then. "Are they alright?"

"For the time being, yes." Ward seemed to be trying to reassure her. "But they'll need our help to take down Daniels. We need to get going right away. The bus is fueled and ready to go, if you want to go ahead, I'll inform Koenig."

"I could do that." She offered, swallowing her nervousness.

"It's alright." He insisted. "I should do it, being the highest ranking agent right now, and all that. Nothing against you, it's just protocol."

"Protocol..." She repeated, before making up an excuse on the fly. "Well, it won't do much right now anyway, Eric's not here."

"What do you mean he's not here?" Ward obviously wasn't expecting that.

"He left for the night." She lied. "Went for the little town west of here..." As she began talking she got more confident, she had lied before, she was good at it, her father was the God of Lies for Pete's sake! "He wasn't going to go, what with us being here and all, but I told him it was alright, to go, get some air... have some fun."

"Some fun?" Ward parroted back, obviously still confused by it all.

"Well, he didn't exactly say it... but if you ask me... I think he had a date..." She said the last part in a low, conspiratorial tone, as if she were a girl gossiping to her best-friend.

Ward let out a laugh at that, it wasn't a nice laugh.

"I suppose we can go then." He declared, wounding an arm around Skye's shoulders to pull her with him. "You do know Coulson isn't going to like this right? Leaving a secret base to go on a date? And when he was so against us leaving after we arrived?! I mean, I know Eric and you are friends and all that, though I have no idea how that happened..."

"We have some things in common, that's all." She tried her best to brush the comment off.

"Coulson is still not going to be happy with him." He insisted. "Come on."

In that moment, Astrid wanted nothing more than to go back, find another way to warn her team, her family, of what was going on. But she couldn't. Really, in that moment the best way to keep them all safe was to follow Ward's game, get him away, from the base, from Eric... then she would have to think of a way to survive... hopefully.

That didn't stop her from shivering inside at Ward's touch.

**xXx**

More or less at the same time (late in the night), the rest of the team were on their way back to Providence. Daniels was in prison again, this time with his powers neutralized for good, thanks to FitzSimmons, and something created by Dr. Banner that Phil didn't quite understand. In any case, it was a good thing, since they no longer had a 'Fridge' where to keep him.

As they flew Leo couldn't help but question his voice regarding the cellist they'd just saved: Audrey Nathan. It had become obvious during the day that she and Coulson had been involved in the past, that they had truly loved each other. Leo couldn't understand why Coulson wouldn't take the chance and reveal himself to her...

"Sir, is everything okay?" The engineer asked, worried for his team-leader.

"She said I never lied to her." Coulson said quietly. "Today, I did..." He had, and even if it had been for the greater good, her own good... it had still pained him to do it. "But she's alive and safe. We did that, at least."

He had needed to do that at least, keep her safe, protect her... like he'd promised her he would when they first met, the first time he hunted Daniels down.  
"Why didn't you tell her the truth?" Leo couldn't help but ask, again.

"I probably will." Coulson admitted after several seconds of silence. "Someday, I guess, when there's a chance she'll understand..." He shook his head. "But right now is not the time. With the danger we're all in, trying to clean up the mess Hydra has left us with, and with the Centipede soldiers still out there... probably with Quinn and Raina back heading that project... it's just not a good idea." He let out a breath. "Besides... she's moving on. Regardless of how long it might have taken, she's moving on, healing... I will not take that from her." He made a pause before adding, almost hesitantly. "And maybe it's time I do the same, and move on..."

Leo couldn't be sure, psychology and such weren't his thing, after all, but he was almost sure there was something more to Agent Coulson's words... maybe it was related to his very close friendship with Astrid/Skye... or maybe he was just imagining things. Jemma did say that he was such a romantic, he tended to see romance even when there was none...

"When we get back, I need to make things right with May." Coulson went on saying, having no idea of Leo's line of thought. "After all, how can I expect Audrey to forgive me if I'm not willing to do the same with May?"

And how could he expect his team, his family, to hold on if he was the one fracturing it? Skye's prophecy, it had warned them about the family being torn apart... he didn't want that to happen, and there was just no way he would allow himself to be the reason for that fracture. He had to make things right... somehow.

**xXx**

Everything was a hell of a mess... again, and it wasn't even noon yet! It had begun early in the morning, when Phil, Jemma, Leo and Trip had returned to Providence, to find their Bus gone and the remaining members of the team missing. Jemma had freaked out when finding Agent Koenig apparently knocked out, laying in a corner in the main closet. None of them had understood what had happened on that front, and then learning that the last thing the man remembered was Astrid afraid for whatever the reason, saying something about protecting him before touching him in the head did not help matters any. All security feeds were missing, except for the motion-activated one that had recorded Melinda May leaving through the main door at some point before noon the day before; and then, around midnight, Ward and Astrid boarding the Bus and taking off. There was no message, no call, no explanation whatsoever of what had happened; though Koenig's report that Astrid had been afraid of Ward for some reason certainly put them all on edge.

Then, as if all that weren't enough to give anyone a bad day, it only got worse when none other than Colonel Talbot arrived (lead by Maria Hill of all people!), with a group of his men, to take over the base and arrest Coulson's team (Phil wasn't, because he was the one supposedly turning the base over to the military to 'make a deal').

At least that part was solved when Phil revealed his suspicions that Ward was Hydra (at that point there was no other reason for Skye to be terrified of him); which allowed them to infer that it was his fault Hand was dead, the Fridge had fallen, Garrett was most likely alive, and Agent Avery was in serious danger. Something in that list ended up being enough for Hill to change her mind as she helped Phil take down the military so they could all go after Ward and Astrid.

Thankfully Fitz and Trip together had managed to reset enough of the systems to be able to track the Bus to an airport in L.A. While they were working on that Phil had also been able to deduce why Ward had taken Astrid, that he needed her to crack the hard-drive, which meant she was alive, they only had to rescue her...

The flight went relatively fast. While Maria and Trip handled the piloting, Phil was sitting in the back, looking at the sky through the tiny window across from where he sat. (FitzSimmons and Koenig had taken a smaller plane, to lay low until they got Astrid back). One second he was looking at the clouds, the next he was seeing a young woman's reflection on the glass. And when he turned around in shock he found none other than Menel, looking around her, she seemed as surprised as he felt.

"Oh... again?" She asked out-loud, though apparently to herself.

"Again?" Phil asked, confused.

"Oh..." She turned wide-eyed to him right then. "You can hear me? And see me? That's new."

"S...Astrid?" He called, confused. "What's going?"

"I think someone knocked me out." She answered, though it almost sounded like a question. "I'm not quite clear on the who or the why right now, but I think that's what happened."

"Are you alright?" He asked next.

"Aside from the knocked-out part?" She inquired, but did not wait for an answer. "And the, most-likely-kidnapped one? Yes, just perfect."

"We know you're in L.A." Phil told her. "We're on our way."

"What for?" She asked, sounding honestly confused.

"To rescue you of course!" He was deeply offended by her surprise. "It's not like we're just going to give up on you."

"That's exactly what you should do AC." Menel told him softly. "I just remembered who knocked me out: it was Mike Peterson." She shook her head. "I tried to get Ward caught, lured him to a diner in L.A., tipped off the police about our presence there. He killed them all, and when I tried to run away, Deathlok caught me. The last thing I remember is him jumping onto the car I was driving, smashing the glass, and grabbing me. Even if I'm still in LA by the time you get there, there's no way you will be able to take on Deathlok."

"I am stronger than I used to be." He sounded almost petulant at that.

"I know you are." She assured him. "But it's been such a short time since your power activated... you're still learning to use it."

"Doesn't mean I shouldn't try."

"You could die! Again! Hela won't be able to send you back a second time AC..." She forced back a sob. "I knew the risks when I signed up for the job... both times. I won't let you die because of me AC, it's not worth it... I'm not worth it..."

"The hell..." He was furious. "Don't you dare say that! Don't you dare belittle yourself in such a way. And don't try to make my decisions for me either!"

"Don't you see I'm just trying to protect you?!"

"If that's what you're doing, shouldn't I be allowed the chance to do the same?"

"Look I..." She shook her head. "If Deathlok is with Ward as I suppose he is they're probably taking me back to the Bus. You should get someone to shoot it down and be done with it."

"Skye..."

"I know you don't like it, but we both know it would be the easiest solution to the problem. That way you take down both Ward and Deathlok, and you can prevent Garrett from getting the information on that hard-drive."

He shook his head and she sighed.

"Oh!" She remembered something else right then. "And you need to find May."

"She left Providence." Phil pointed out.

"I know." She waved off that fact dismissively.

"Not like we have the base anymore but..."

"Wait what?" That she wasn't expecting. "What happened?"

"Colonel Talbot happened." That was enough of an answer.

"Did you find Eric? He was unconscious in...

"In the supplies closet, yeah." Phil actually smirked at that. "He's with FitzSimmons. We found him when we arrived, he told us you had left him like that..."

"I had to. Even before I knew that Ward was Hydra I could sense there was something off about him. I just knew I had to protect Eric... god knows what Ward would have done to him."

"Kill him, most likely. He knows that too, is thankful that you saved his life."

"Good, now let me save yours. Go away."

"You know I'm not going to give up on you that easily."

"Argg!" She half-groaned half-whined. "You're so stubborn."

"No more than you are. You were saying about May..."

"Right." She forced herself to focus. "I know she left Providence, but she promised she was coming back to us. She said she needed to run some errands, no idea what they were about, but I asked her for a favor and she agreed."

"What kind of favor?"

"To pick up Agent Hand."

"Victoria Hand is dead."

"Actually, no she's not. I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but when I first woke up my mind was kind of foggy, and by the time I remembered everything you were already gone. Remember the bracelet I gave Agent Hand before she left for the Fridge? It didn't only have a tracker on it."

"Magic..." He understood then. "So that's what knocked you out?"

"Exactly. It was far more draining than I thought it would be, but it worked out. She's currently in a hospital, registered as a Jane Doe... the coordinates are in a file you can access from your tablet. Last time I communicated with May she told me 'Victory was secure', which was our code for Agent Hand being safe... If you go there you can probably find May and get Agent Hand someplace safe where she can finish her recovery. The one time I saw her she was out of danger but still in pretty bad condition... and the last thing we need is Hydra finding her, or worse, Ward, especially if it was him, or Garrett, that shot her."

"I'll make sure she gets to safety, May too." Phil assured her, before adding. "And you can be with us to make sure of that."

"AC... please..."

"Don't." He interrupted her. "You won't change my mind Skye, I'm not giving up on you."

She couldn't help it, she smiled. He saw her mouthing a thank you before she vanished, like smoke. She probably had woken up. He let out a breath.

"Wanna explain to me what that was, exactly?" A voice suddenly called.

Phil's head snapped up instantly even as he cursed himself for not being as attentive as he should have been. All his attention had been on Skye, which wasn't that surprising, all things considered, but still, he was a Senior Agent, he should have been more alert.

"Did that girl just disappear into thin air?" Hill pressed on.

"Pretty much, yes." Phil answered flippantly.

"Wanna explain to me how she did that, exactly?" She asked next.

"Not particularly." He wasn't giving Skye's secrets away, no matter what.

"I don't remember anyone with such abilities on the Index." Maria insisted. "Which means she wasn't on the it. Which means you've been in contact with a gifted, without reporting it to SHIELD for addition to the Index..."

"Which is a good thing considering, you know, Hydra!"

"By the trust with which she spoke to you, and the nickname... it's obvious that you've known each other for a while. And you did not report her... why?"

Phil refused to answer.

"Very well, I'll let that go, for now." She chose to focus on what mattered most to her. "Did she really just say that Vicky was alive? In a hospital?"

Phil's expression actually softened at the questions, and at Maria's own change in voice as she asked them; he could hardly believe he'd actually forgotten about the connection between the two women, of course Maria would be interested in knowing about Victoria!

"Yes, she said that." He nodded, more calm. "According to her Melinda is there by now, she'll make sure Hydra doesn't find her. At least until we can get her to a secure location when she can finish healing properly."

The expression of relief on Maria Hill's usually immutable expression was such that Phil actually felt the need to look away, like it was a private moment no one should witness.

"I don't know how she did it." Maria said, knowing Phil wouldn't tell her. "And right now it doesn't matter just... when you see her again, tell your girl thank you for me."

"You'll get the chance to do it yourself." Phil declared. "I'll introduce you once we get her back."

Because they were getting her back, there was simply no other option Phil was willing to contemplate. He wasn't giving up on Skye, not then, not ever.

**xXx**

The sound of the cuffs clicking shut made Skye want to curse. It wasn't the first time, but still. At least she had gotten a good punch in, and a head-but, before Ward managed to cuff her to the staircase. And AC was on the way, with others... who hopefully would convince him that the smart decision was to simply shoot the Bus out of the sky the moment it took off... Doesn't mean she was about to lay down and die, of course not, she wasn't born a martyr... or an idiot. She was a fighter, in many ways, ways Ward did not know about, because he refused to see them, refused to see her. She would teach him to underestimate her...

"All this time, everything we've been through... why?" She half demanded, half-whined, getting ready to surprise him. "How could you?"

"I was on a mission." He answered simply, unemotionally. "It wasn't personal."

"It was..." She couldn't believe it. "You did not just say that." She hissed. "It wasn't personal?! Are you kidding me?!"

"Skye, listen to me..." He began, in such a condescending tone he only made her angrier.

"God, I might actually believe that." She muttered, waving her free hand wildly around. "You... that... I... that is the twisted logic that they teach you when you sign up to be a Nazi!"

"Stop, wait." He interrupted her, taking offense. "I'm not a Nazi."

"Yes, you are." She retorted, strangely calm. "That is exactly what you are. It's in the SHIELD handbook." Which, surprise, surprise, she'd actually read... superficially at least. "Chapter one. The Red Skull, founder of Hydra, was a big, fat, freaking Nazi!"

"That has nothing to do with today." He insisted, like he actually believed that...

"You know, you always had that Hitler youth look to you..." She commented in an almost dismissive tone. "So it's really not that surprising."

"It's not like that." Ward insisted. "I'm a spy, I had a job..."

"You've killed... I don't know how many people." She truly did not know, and that scared her more than anything else. "You gonna kill me now?"

"No." He actually seemed offended by her supposition, the bastard. "I would never hurt you."

"Once I crack the drive, are you just gonna shoot me like you did with Thomas Nash, or are you gonna have someone else do it, like you did with Quinn?" She insisted.

"I didn't know that was gonna happen." Ward retorted. "That was all Garrett."

"Oh, of course it was Garrett's fault." She snorted not believing him at all. "That was part of 'the mission' right? Just gonna kick back and watch me bleed until it's your turn to pull the trigger."

"You think I had a part in that?" He seemed offended. "That I would let that happen to you?"

"And do you honestly believe that changes anything?!" She snapped back at him. "Can you imagine what Garrett will do if he finds out who I am? That I'm alive?! Do you think he'll care to keep me alive?!" She rolled her eyes. "On the other hand, maybe he will care, if only to find out how exactly I survived!"

"It will not come to that." Ward either was stupid, or in deep denial. "I will not let it come to that. I promise you... You know how I feel about you, Skye."

"Wait." She almost laughed hysterically at that. "So even though you've been lying to everyone, about everything, you're saying that your feelings for me..."

"They're real, Skye." He finished for her, reaching to caress her face. "They always have been."

He made a move to kiss her and she moved as far back as she could, horrified.

"I'm gonna throw up." She declared with a sharp inhale. "You make me sick. As sick as Odin, and you know how much I hate the bastard..."

"Do you think this has been easy for me?" He actually had the gall to try and sell his sob-story to her. "Do you have any idea how hard it was? The sacrifices, the decisions I had to make? But I made them. Because that's what I do. I'm a survivor."

"You are a serial killer." She hissed, and then, words came to her mind, and through her lips, before she was even fully conscious of them. "You are a Coward... a Traitor..."

"I'm not..." He began, offended.

"And you know what else?" She insisted. "You're forgetful... you've forgotten who I am, who my father is, and the power that grants me..."

A twist of her wrist, and suddenly her right hand was pale blue... and very, very cold. The cuff froze around her wrist, the brittle material breaking with one more twist. Then, with her hand still mostly as that of a Jotun, Skye swung her arm, putting all her weight behind the move, delivering her strongest punch yet, straight to Ward's face. It was enough to break his nose, and probably give him two black eyes.

"I will never... ever give you what you want." She hissed at him almost viciously, even as she shook her hand to return it to normal.

Ward's expression was telling, and it somehow gave Skye even more satisfaction that the blood running down his face and his already darkening face. He truly had forgotten about Skye being Loki's daughter; either that or it simply wasn't something that had ever truly registered in his mind. She couldn't help but wonder briefly if it was part of his misogynistic attitude regarding her, or if it was part of the protective spell her father had left on her...

Regretfully, the satisfaction hadn't lasted long. Garrett had sent Deathlok to get the information from her. She'd tried to remind him he was a good man, a father; a tactic that failed spectacularly when he pointed out that he'd left his son in the hands of a woman who was dead (the magic made it so he couldn't recognize her), and an organization that had delivered that son to the man currently manipulating him. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that before...

Then, while she was still lost in that thought, Mike had done the one thing she hadn't been expecting. Rather than hurting her, he'd hurt Ward... shot him a device that made his heart stop, and he was the only one who could restart it...

"You think I don't want to watch him suffer?" Skye was trying her best to sound aloof as she watched Ward moan in pain, but she was failing.

"Not suffer, die." Mike reminded her. "Garrett doesn't think you're gonna let that happen."

"He's a murderer." She murmured, as if trying to justify it to herself more than Mike.

"Yes, he is." Mike agreed blankly. "Are you?"

No she wasn't, and they all knew that. Even if Mike did not recognize her, it was obvious. So she told him, the secret, the thing that had kept the hard-drive protected until then. It wasn't about a location, it wasn't about longitude and latitude... it was about altitude... 30,000 feet.

The bastard had the gall to approach Skye, as she was setting up everything for the hard-drive to unlock and be copied...

"Thank you..." He whispered, stopping briefly beside her.

"I didn't do it for you." She hissed back at him. "I did it for my father..."

That actually caught him by surprise, and it showed.

"Being what we are..." She murmured, trying to be vague in case Mike was listening in. "If we ever spill blood we run the risk of becoming addicted to it... he didn't want that for me..."

"You could still have done nothing." He insisted, trying to convince her, and himself, that she did care. "It's not like you were the one holding the trigger."

"It would still have been on me." Skye replied calmly, typing the last command before turning to him and staring right into his eyes. "So, in the end, you are alive because I promised my father I wouldn't become a killer, not because of you. For you I couldn't possibly care less."

Ward was left speechless at that, still refusing to believe what he was hearing. Skye did not care anymore; when Mike approached she didn't resist, simply followed him to the 'cell'. She would wait until the two men were busy handling the take off to break out through the roof. At least that was the plan until about five minutes later, when the door opened unexpectedly, revealing none other than Phil Coulson.

"AC?!" She couldn't even think of trying to hide her surprise at his appearance.

She had known he would try to rescue her, despite everything she might have told him during their little talk when she was knocked out... she was just hoping he wouldn't take such risks... which probably had been a pointless wish from the very start.

Still, nothing could have stopped her when she stood from the hard chair she was sitting on and hurried to his side, embracing him tightly before she was even fully conscious of her own actions; her need for him completely instinctive.

"Are you okay?" He began shooting questions at her right away. "Did Ward hurt you?"

"No, I'm okay..." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And I told you not to come!"

"And I told you I would come anyway." He retorted in the same tone, before adding in an over-dramatic manner. "Besides, if you are Loki's daughter, you are a princess, true?" He didn't actually wait for an answer as he went on. "As an Eihenjar I am supposed to be a royal-guard... you can consider this part of my duty..."

Her mouth dropped open in shock, she definitely hadn't seen that one coming... she didn't like it.

Still, the two left the cell and began moving through the plane.

"So, what's the plan?" She asked as calmly as she could.

"Well, I would like to take the plane back... but seeing as I'm not sure how safe it would be, for either of us, to try and take Deathlok and Ward at the same time..." He shrugged. "We're getting out of here now."

She was glad she didn't have to call him insane for trying to do such a thing. As much as she liked to believe she was strong, and he too... they didn't have enough experience with their respective abilities to take on such opponents. Also, she ha spent more than three months focusing on doing as little magic as possible. After New York and everything Loki had done back then SHIELD had actually created machines capable of tracking down magical signatures to a point, the risk of her being found through such a device had been too great.

"I can't let you leave, Agent Coulson, Agent Avery..." Deathlok called suddenly.

Skye could have cursed, how had she not noticed Deathlok approaching them? But there was no time. They had to run. Phil had the fore-though (or at least enough of a plan) to open the bay doors as he rushed to the back of the plane.

"Get in the car!" He yelled at Skye as they rushed down the stairs.

The young woman didn't stop to question his plan, just did as told, jumping on the passenger side. Right as Phil reached the other side, and Deathlok entered the cargo bay, shooting at them almost immediately.

"Down! Get down!" Phil cried out even as he turned the car on.

Skye didn't. She might have spent months forcing herself not to do magic, but she didn't have to do that anymore. So instead she raised both hands, calling on a shield to deflect the bullets from both Deathlok and Ward.

It worked. They managed to get off the Bus without a single shot hitting them. It wasn't exactly easy, flying car or not, Lola wasn't made to fly at such altitudes; but they managed. Skye was safe, the family was together, they'd survived...

**xXx**

In the evening, the group gathered at an out-of-the-way motel, where Trip and FitzSimmons were waiting, all three of them seemed equally delighted at seeing Astrid again. As was May, who arrived shortly after they did, announcing that Valery Heins (Hand's alias) had just been transferred to a medical facility connected to Stark Industries, she would be safe there.

Astrid had just finished embracing each member of her team when she came face to face with Maria Hill, who had just stepped out of the room where she'd apparently been talking to Phil about something serious.

"Agent Astrid Avery, I believe?" The black-haired woman inquired, offering her hand to the girl. "I am Maria Hill."

"I know... ma'am." The brunette blurted out, half in shock. "It's an honor to meet you."

Even before she'd grown to actually like SHIELD she had greatly admired Maria Hill, for a woman to have made it that high in such an organization, despite the obvious racist and even misogynistic tendencies of some individuals... it was admirable.

"The honor is all mine, Agent Avery." Maria assured her, briefly taking Astrid's hand in both of hers. "I believe it is you I have to thank for Vicky's life..."

Astrid understood it then, the connection that existed between the two woman.

"I did what I could, ma'am." She replied honestly. "I would have done it for more, but I did not have the means..."

"You used power to do it." Maria nodded. "Supernatural power. I know you are gifted..." She clarified. "I witnessed part of your exchange with Coulson on the jet earlier today... though he has refused to tell me what it is you can do."

"A variety of things." Astrid focused on appearing nonchalant. "I myself do not know everything. For most of my life I lived as a human, until something happened and my abilities revealed themselves... this was barely a few months ago... I don't yet know all I may be capable of."

"Phil called you Skye..." Maria revealed something else no one expected her to know. "That is the name of a consultant who was reported to have died, killed in action five months ago..."

"From two GSW to the stomach, fired by Ian Quinn, on orders from the Clairvoyant, who we now know to be John Garrett." Astrid finished for her.

For several seconds, very long seconds, not a word was said. Everyone stood immobile, Maria looking all serious, Trip shocked, FitzSimmons and May surprised, while Phil held himself in a protective stand beside Skye/Astrid.

"I am she." The brunette revealed abruptly. "I am Skye. As you can see, I'm not dead, though the manner in which I managed to survive is not one I'm willing to share, suffice it to say that it's connected to the manifestation of abilities and cannot be repeated by anyone else." She was being truthful and evasive at the same time. "Before Quinn was picked up, my team found out that his intentions when shooting me had been to push AC... Agent Coulson into finding a way to save me, the same that saved him, and of which there was no record anywhere... we knew it was a bad idea, and it wasn't like I actually needed it in the end. So we faked my death to throw both Quinn and the Clairvoyant off their game. We hoped that if they believed Agent Coulson wasn't willing to go to those lengths to save one of us, then he wouldn't try such a thing again."

It was the truth, that had been the plan, and it had worked.

"How could you get back into SHIELD?" Hill inquired.

"Does it matter?" Astrid refused to answer that, she wasn't giving that kind of ammunition to anyone not family. "It's not like it makes much of a difference at this point."

It was obvious Hill did not like the lack of answer; but she must have still felt enough in Skye's debt she did not insist on the young woman answering her.

Then, as if they hadn't had enough surprises already, two more people arrived.

"Clint Barton... and Darcy Lewis..." Maria Hill stated as she saw them arrive, bags in hand. "I don't know why I'm even surprised..." She turned to Phil. "Though the Avengers were not supposed to know about your return."

Clint's loud snort called her attention before Phil could say anything in his defense.

"If you think there was any way you could keep that secret after the train station last September, you aren't as clever as I once thought you were, Maria." Clint pointed out calmly. "Stark has known at least since then, and he informed the rest of us. And at least some of us have been in contact with Phil for a few months now."

Maria turned a recriminatory gaze to Phil again, but he did not back down, he wouldn't apologize for wanting his family back. They had tried to take it away, had even managed it for a while, something he would never understand, or forgive... but he had regained it, and wasn't letting it go again, not the old or the new one. It was something Maria did not understand, because as much as she may care for Vicky, she had never gotten so attached to a full team, enough to feel like they belonged together, beyond the missions. They would go after Ward, Garret and Deathlok, would take them down... but even after they were done with that, he wouldn't let them go; because even after the mission was finished, they would never stop being a family...

"I imagine you'll be staying here then, at least until you've regrouped and are ready to try and take on Garret and Ward again?" Hill tried to get an idea of what they were planning.

"Actually, no." Astrid stepped in. "As good as this place might be for a little rest, maybe even a night. I have a better one in mind. A... friend of a friend owned an apartment, uptown. She no longer lives in LA, but the apartment still belongs to her, if indirectly. And she gave me the codes to the alarms years ago, in case I ever needed a place to crash. The place is big enough for all of us, it'll probably be dusty, but good enough for a few days."

No one asked her who that 'friend of a friend' was, or where the apartment was located exactly, they trusted her to take them somewhere safe.

"I suppose you will be sticking together from now on?" Maria commented more than asked.

"The only reason we stayed away as long as we did was because it was safer for him as his team." Clint informed her. "Things have since changed. With SHIELD in pieces, we are all there is, so yes, we're sticking together."

"Besides, we're a family." Darcy added, not cowed at all by the woman's expression or presence. "Family sticks together, no matter what."

The answering nod came from everyone around. It made Maria wonder briefly what SHIELD would have been like if people like them had been the ones in charge, people who valued loyalty, bonds, above power and status... it probably would have been so different, maybe even better... too bad they would never know.

**xXx**

After Maria Hill left, the rest began filing to their respective rooms. After the comment that the other apartment was probably dusty it had been decided that they better go there in the morning, when they would be able to clean up a bit, change sheets, that sort of thing. Eventually the only ones left sitting in the chairs by the motel's pool were Phil and Skye (who was looking more like her old self in that moment than at any other in the last three months since her return).

"Does the apartment belong to that friend, Josef, you mentioned?" Phil couldn't help but ask.

"No." Skye actually chuckled at his almost petulant tone. "I said 'friend of a friend'... Josef owned a mansion, which was burnt to the ground almost a year ago... the apartment belonged to a friend of his. I actually don't know why she chose not to sell it when they left... but in any case, it is convenient to us."

"Will it really be safe?" He inquired, not doubting her, but unsure after all that had happened.

"I promise you." She assured him calmly, before getting on her feet. "I think I will go now..."

She was walking behind his chair when she stopped and turned back to him.

"Oh, and one more thing..." She said, bending until her lips were right by his ear. "What you said earlier today, about you being an Eihenjar and me being a princess..." She let out a breath, making him shiver. "I have no interest, or need, for a bodyguard... I could use a match though..."

She deposited a single, searing kiss into the juncture between his neck and collarbone; the contact lasting just a second, only to leave before a single word could form, either in his lips, or mind. So no, she hadn't given up, she probably never would, and now... the next move was his to make...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think about how Skye's prophecy is showing? If you don't yet understand what everything means let me know and I'll add an in-depth explanation in the notes of the next chapter. 
> 
> Also, what do you think about the little insinuation I made of Victoria and Maria? If you don't like it I suppose you can always ignore it. It wasn't planned, but after I decided to save her I wanted to experiment some with a pairing for her, I briefly considered Melinda, but after the mention that he had a husband in the past, and considering she still has that mess with Ward to solve, I didn't want to add another one; and then I remembered Maria came into the story in this part and... it just fit. They will come back at some point, and I might or might not touch upon the relationship again (if too many people are against it I suppose I could leave it unsaid). 
> 
> Next chapter... We're connecting to CA2 - The Winter Soldier! (And yes, I mean that much more directly than what the show already did!) Hope you'll like it. 
> 
> See ya next week! (Please don't forget to comment, I still need help on the Smallville-decision department... and if you want any other crossovers I haven't mentioned before).


	4. Winter Cloud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where the crossover with CA2 takes place...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You people are going to either love me for this, or hit me with a metal arm... anyway, what's written is written. 
> 
> For a better idea of what Skye wears at a certain, crucial point of this chapter watch Chloe Wang's video "Uh Oh" the tight, black-and-red ensemble... that's more or less what she's wearing here.

**Chapter 4. Winter Cloud**

As it turned out, the apartment was in a much better condition than Skye had been expecting. She suspected either her old friends had someone clean up the place periodically, or someone had used the apartment recently. At least it was not occupied that day. It had taken all day for the group to install themselves in the place, arriving either individually or in pairs and from different directions, in an attempt not to call undue attention to themselves. They also had washed the sheets and gotten food to last them a week or so.

The apartment was a two bedroom one, which the girls immediately took over: Darcy and Skye sharing one, Jemma and May the other; the men had offered to camp out on the living room, which they did with a bunch of pillows, cushions and blankets.

"I have to say you have some pretty well-off friends, Skye!" Trip commented with a smile as he looked around the place. "I mean, to have moved out and leave all this here..."

"There were certain circumstances..." Skye began before trailing off. "It's complicated."

Yes it was, it always seemed to be...

A surprise came the following morning when a package arrived to 'Karin Kostan'. Skye cursed under her breath even as she took the package and began ripping it open.

"Are you sure it's safe to open it?" Trip asked, on edge with everything that was happening.

Truth be told, they were all on edge at the arrival of a package to an apartment no one was supposed to know they were in.

"It's fine." Skye replied dismissively. "Josef is just a meddling son of a bitch who has way too many eyes in this city... particularly for someone who left over a year ago."

"Josef?" Darcy asked, curious. "Is that the name of the person who owned this apartment."

"No, the owner of this apartment was Beth." Skye answered half-absently. "Josef was our common friend, who I knew when I lived in LA, before I joined SHIELD... and who's always been too meddlesome for his own good."

"Is he still in LA?" Clint asked, till doubting.

"She said he left." Darcy pointed out.

"That he did, almost a year ago." Skye replied. "It's quite obvious that not all his contacts left with him, and at least one identified me... and the fact that I'm not alone."

She managed to pry the package open right then. Revealing, to everyone's surprise, two sets of keys, with tags announcing they belonged to two of the other apartments on their floor.

"Why am I not surprised?" She asked to no one in particular.

"Is this safe?" May didn't like it. "If this... Josef knows that we're here..."

"It is perfectly safe." Skye assured her. "Josef is no threat to any of us, that I promise you. He probably heard that there were so many of us together and decided we needed more space. And this is just his style."

"You're saying he's the kind to buy apartments for a friend he hasn't seen in a year?" Darcy sounded quite disbelieving.

"It actually wouldn't surprise me if he'd owned these apartments since Beth lived here." Skye qualified. "In any case. It's up to us. But I do believe we can trust him, and I'm sure we all would be thankful for individual beds."

She extended the keys to the men, but everyone turned to Phil instead, he was still the leader.

"Take them." Phil nodded in agreement.

They made new arrangements then. One of the apartments had a single bedroom, with a bigger bed; Darcy and Clint were given use of that one. The other had two bedrooms, one with a single, and the other with two beds (like the ones the girls had been sharing); Phil then had a room for himself, while Leo and Trip shared. In the original apartment May was left to the individual room, while Jemma and Skye shared the other one. It was a good arrangement. Also, as it turned out the other apartments were fully stocked, which helped as well.

"Hey Avery." Trip called when they met again to eat. "If we ever meet your friend, remind me to thank him. He really helped us out here."

Skye nodded in agreement, still working out why exactly he had done that.

"Are you having second thoughts?" Phil asked her quietly, standing beside her, his back to her, and pretending to just be eating.

"Not at all." She answered honestly. "I'm just curious. Josef has always been very charitative, when he feels there's a good reason for it. And while I wouldn't be surprised by his offer of help to me, the fact that he knows you're here and he's helping you... that's the part I don't understand."

"Wouldn't he help us simply because we're with you?" Phil inquired.

"Maybe." She conceeded. "But you... we technically work for the government, or we used to, at least. The last time the government meddled in Josef's businesses... things did not end well."

No, they hadn't she still remembered ADA Talbot... it suddenly occurred to her to wonder if that man was any relation to Col. Talbot... and wasn't that a sobering thought? If there really was a connection... it wouldn't be good.

She could still remember the last time, that night, all the rubble, the fire, the blood... the Los Angeles River tinted a murkish red with ashes and blood of those dead on the riverbank; and then the thunderstorm... the power had been lost at some point, the fire from the flame-throwers and the huge bonfire illuminating the place in shades of orange and red. It had been like the scene of a horror movie, of a nightmare... and she could still remember ever minute of it.

"Skye...?" Phil called, worriedly.

"It's alright." She assured him, even if, this time, she wasn't fully convinced herself. "I'll just need to pay Josef a visit next time we're around New York..."

"I'll go with you." Phil announced, and she knew he wasn't asking.

"Was there anything else you wanted to know?" She asked when he didn't move away.

"Karin Kostan?" He phrased it as a question.

"Skylar Karen Wright was the name I used when I was in college." She explained. "Skye to my friends... During the first summer I even got a fake ID under the name Karen Starr, you know, to go clubbing, that sort of thing. After I ran away I went back to being just Skye; but when I left Miles and came to LA, I began using the fake ID again. Shortly after I began living with Josef he told me that if I was going to use a fake ID, I should at least learn to do it right. He got me a new one, changed the surname saying that the name 'Karen Starr' was already being investigated by the authorities, and because with the name Kostan he could protect me better... it's his name. He began claiming me as his sister, or cousin...depending on the company. The change from Karen to Karin was actually an accident, the person he had making the IDs made a mistake. I liked it, and chose to leave it like that." She smiled. "I eventually told him my real name, which he said was good. He still kept calling me Karin in public, though."

Phil nodded, before finally moving on to talk someone else. He couldn't help but smile as he moved. He liked their talks, little by little, they were allowing him to get to know Skye, the real her... and he was discovering he liked her even more than the fraction of her he'd known before the shooting, before Loki, and the revelation of what turned out to be just the beginning of the secrets. He was probably even more in love with her than he'd been at the beginning! It was a staggering idea, though welcome nonetheless... now if he could only find the right way to express his feelings, preferably before she changed her mind about him!

**xXx**

Almost a week later the group had a basic plan to handle things. By that point there were good news and bad to go around: Skye had informed them she'd left a Trojan Horse on the hard-drive, one with multiple purpose: the first was to copy all the contents of the drive into a 'cloud' Skye had built and encrypted for her personal use, years before; also, as the files fully appeared on the cloud, they would be automatically eliminated from the drive. The day after they were installed in the apartments Skye had been able to confirm that around ¾ of the contents of the hard-drive had been successfully moved before Ward or Deathlok became aware of what was happening and stopped it. Regretfully, that meant they'd still managed to keep a quarter or so of the information, which happened to include the file Fury had sent to Phil regarding Project TAHITI, and their preliminary investigation regarding it.

To make matters worse, that same night Skye had had a vision of an attack on the secret facility called the Guest-House. Ward had lead a group of men to ransack the place in an attempt to obtain the drug that had revived Coulson. In the end, the fail-safes of the place had kicked in and the men were forced to run with what they could take, still a number of them died, and Skye had enjoyed hearing Garrett curse in the dream. She had enjoyed even more Phil's laughter when she found a way to share the memory of the vision with him.

On the positive side, Skye's Trojan Horse had managed to scramble the files enough that they had no idea which drug they were supposed to use, they hoped that would buy they some time.

Then there was the secondary purpose of the Trojan Horse: to burrow into the Bus's systems, and anything else they connected to it (from Centipede, Cybertek, etc.), allowing Skye to track them and everyone else involved with them. There was only a little problem with that: there had been so little time, Skye hadn't been able to finish that function in the Trojan Horse, it would expand, but until she connected a flash-drive with the last part of the program, to one computer that had the Trojan, the rest of it wouldn't work. Which meant they had to find one.

A plan was made considering those things, to go, figuratively, into the wolf's mouth. May and Phil went to Cybertek, posing as a pair of scientists looking for sanctuary from the military and a job after the fall of SHIELD. FitzSimmons were on the comms, instructing them what to say and how, to keep up the part, Darcy was with them as backup. While in another van: Trip, Clint and Skye waited for the moment May and Phil found a computer to activate the program.

Regretfully, the mission didn't exactly go according to plan. Cybertek was a technological company and, somehow, they lacked any mainframe whatsoever for their systems... either that or the offices they visited were nothing but a front... a front with a serious archive, but still. At the very least, the visit wasn't a loss of time, they'd gotten the 'hard-copies' of the files on the Deathlok project (a whole triple cabinet full of them).

They were in that moment looking through them, trying to find something that might help them. The calm was abruptly interrupted when everyone heard Skye let out an expletive in Chinese. They all looked at her, waiting for an explanation, instead of that she left the room in a hurry, going for her apartment right away.

Phil found her right as she was rushing back out of the apartment she shared with Jemma and May, having changed her original clothes of a sleveless top and short-shorts, for something more fashionable (at least to his eyes): a purple-wrap dress with a black sash, which didn't actually reach her knees, and with loose sleeves to her elbows, as well as the knee-high black-leather thick-soled boots she favored.

"Skye?" He made her name a question as he looked at her.

"I need to go run a few errands." She answered promptly.

"To go run a few errands you need to change into a dress, and carry several concealed weapons?" He asked in return.

After seeing her train a few times and their talks, Phil could see she had at least two concealed knives on her (one on each boot), possibly more, and she was also carrying a couple of handguns (one in a thigh-holster, the other in the front pocket of her dress): one a reinforced ICER (meant for Centipede soldiers), the other a twin of Darcy's specialized taser-gun (created just for her, by none other than Tony Stark).

"If I tell you, you're not going to like it." Skye admitted, biting at her lower lip.

"I dislike more the fact that you were about to go without telling anyone where it is you're going, or that you're leaving at all." Phil replied in a chastising tone.

"I'd hoped it wouldn't take me long, that no one would notice." Skye admitted sheepishly.

"Skye..." Phil shook his head in disbelief. "Everyone noticed the moment you left the room. Now tell me, what is going on? And why won't I like it?"

"I have to go meet someone?" It sounded almost like a question.

"Someone I won't want you to go meet if I know who this person is?" Phil guessed.

"Pretty much, yes."

"Yet you insist on going?"

"I have to! Look it's..."

"Complicated? You've been using that word a lot lately."

"I know..." She pondered a bit before explaining. "You remember how I told you I ran away from my last foster family when I was sixteen?"

"Yes... what does this have to..."

"What I didn't explain was why I did it." She began babbling as she tried to not give too many details of things she'd never meant for anyone to know. "That couple... they weren't good people. Actually, I met a lot of people that fell into that category, while I was in the system, but they were probably the worse. They... while I was with them I found out a few things about them: that they always fostered teenagers, and only teenagers; that sometimes those teens were found dead, they would either OD, or committed suicide, or something... then there were those that were never found, which I have reason to believe was even worse."

"Did you report them?" Phil asked, horrified.

"To who? It was the foster system, and we were teenagers, almost old enough to be kicked out, no one cared about us. How do you think they got away with the things they did?" She shook her head. "A woman I met while I was with them, she told me a few things, it was part of how I found out what had happened to other teenagers before me. She told me that if I wanted to live, and be free, that I needed to leave, and soon. So I did, I left that very night." She took a deep breath. "Anyway, that wasn't the point of the story. After that, I was on the streets for a while."

"Until you met Karen..."

"Yes, but not quite. I met someone else in between the two. It was during the night. It was raining hard outside and I slipped into a 24/7 diner, bought the cheapest thing I could find and sat in a corner, waiting for the storm to pass. I stayed there for hours. At some point the owner wanted to throw me out, saying if I wasn't going to buy, I had no reason to stay, I tried to stall but it was useless, until he interfered."

"He? Who?"

"I didn't know who he was. He was in the diner as well, arrived sometime after I did, had been eating. He bought a decent meal and had it sent to me. Waved away my excuses when I tried to stop him... in the end I was too hungry to keep complaining. What I did notice is that he seemed to make the owner of the diner nervous. He didn't bother either of us again."

"Did you ask him who he was?" Phil couldn't help but get interested in her story, like he always did when she revealed a bit more of her past.

"Not that time. He left at some point, shortly before the storm passed. I left as soon as it did. Did not see him for several days. Until one night, I was short on money and couldn't afford a room anywhere, thankfully it hadn't rained again so I didn't mind much sleeping on the park. At least not until those men appeared... filthy and high on something, I know not what..."

"Did they...?" He didn't dare even finish the question.

"Rape me? No." Skye shook her head. "Though that was only thanks to him. I tried to defend myself, but didn't know how. And then he appeared, he broke the arm of the one holding me down, and that was enough to make all of them run. Then he turned to me, told me to go. I told him I had nowhere to go. I tried to settle again on the bench, and..." Her eyes sparkled as something occurred to her: "Want to see it?"

It was such a rare offer to come from her lips, he didn't doubt, just extended his hand to her. She took it in hers, pulling until the tips of his fingers were resting against her temple, then mirrored the motion with her other hand on his temple and projected the memory into his mind. It was blurry, with no way of recognizing who the man might be, though if that was because Skye's then-human-eyes hadn't been able to caught enough details or intentional to keep his identity concealed from Phil, he did not know.

_The sixteen-year-old Skye, dressed in obviously old, worn-out clothes, began laying back down on the park-bench, using her knapsack as a pillow and an old, second-hand duster as a blanket of sorts; until the man beside her pulled her back up roughly._

" _Are you absolute insane, girl?!" He demanded in a rough tone._

" _I want to sleep." She replied in an almost scathing tone. "I haven't slept in over two days."_

" _If you close your eyes in this bench you won't be waking up again." He stated matter-of-factly._

" _You think those men would come back and kill me?" She actually sounded a bit afraid at that._

" _No." He replied flippantly. "I will kill you and save us all the bother."_

" _What?! Why did you save me then?"_

" _Certainly not so you could get yourself killed an hour later!"_

" _What do you expect me to do then?!" She demanded._

" _Don't you have somewhere to go? Your family? Friends?"_

" _I don't have either. I have nothing and no one! I have no home, no family, no friends. I had foster parents but even they don't want me! I Have Nowhere To Go!"_

_Something in her tirade seemed to touch a chord in the man, for his expression (blurry as it was) softened minutely, before he placed a hand on Skye's arms._

" _Come with me." He told her softly._

" _What?" She wasn't expecting that._

" _I don't have a home, but I have a motel room." He answered simply. "I think the couch is big enough for you..."_

_She knew it was absolutely crazy, but knowing he was right when he said someone might kill her if she fell asleep there, and with her being as exhausted as she was... she went with him._

For Phil the memory stopped there, however, she could remember more of what had happened that night: How, upon arrival to the motel he'd offered her the bed. She thought it was crazy, it was his bed, but his response to that left her so shocked she couldn't refuse anymore.

" _I've slept in places a lot worse than the carpeted floor on a motel room, doll." He assured her. "This is much more comfortable than metal and ice..."_

She'd had no idea, at the time, what he meant; but with what she'd learnt recently...

"So he saved you that night, and now you owe him?" Phil tried to guess her reasoning.

"I owe him." Skye nodded. "For a lot more than that." She took a breath and went back to the story of what had happened. "We were somewhere in South Ohio at the time, don't ask me where. I had spent the last several weeks making my way south as fast as I could, putting as much space as possible between me and that crazy couple in Chicago. Then I found him, and plans changed... again. He told me he was there for work. When I asked him what he did he said he worked on 'confidential projects' for a 'private citizen'. I knew it was all bullshit, but since I didn't yet know him enough, I said nothing. A week later I woke up to find him studying a newspaper really intently, a seemingly minor story nearly at the back of the Local News..." She shook her head. "When he went to take a shower I took the paper, looking for what had kept his interest for so long: among news for some educational proposal, some improvement in the children's ward of the local hospital, the beginning of the campaign for an aspiring senator... there was one article that focused on the recent suicide of another young politician, one who would have been the most serious competitor of the one just beginning his campaign in fact. According to the article the stress of his political career had gotten to him, he'd mixed the anti-depressants only his most trusted staff knew he was taking, with a bit too much scotch... or something like that. It was ruled as suicide. I instinctively knew it was actually a very cleverly hidden murder."

"He... the man who saved you was an assassin?!"

"Yes." She briefly wondered what he would say if... when he found out that wasn't the only, or even the first assassin she'd met. "He confirmed it later on, but it was at that point that I learnt the truth. From the very start he'd told me he did not know how long he would be in town, but I could stay with him as long as he did. Then he would disappear. He spent a few hours every day out, I never asked what he was doing, or where he even went. But whenever he wasn't busy he would train me. It was from him that I learnt the basics of self-defense."

"Martial arts?" Phil was curious again.

"Nothing formal." She shook her head. "He said there was no point in trying to be 'artistic' when fighting, the only thing that mattered was staying alive, being better than your opponent. He even began teaching me how to use knives..." She pulled out one strapped to her left thigh (opposite to where she had one of her guns). "He gave me this one."

Phil took the blade as she offered it to him. It looked like a mix of a hunting and an army knife. Double-edged, one side was smooth and slightly curved at the top, ending on a tip; the other side had a small part dull, as if meant for hitting, or piercing rather than slashing, and the side of the blade was serrated. It was also completely black, blade, guard and handle all.

"It's a good blade." Phil didn't know what else to do as he handed it back.

"It's German, or so he said." Skye explained. "He once told me he'd gotten the knife from a man trying to kill him during the war, then used it against him and all the others attacking him."

"War? In Germany?" Phil thought he must have heard wrong. "Was he talking about WWII?"

"It would seem so... I never asked." Skye admitted. "It sounded insane. And he was, insane I mean, sometimes. Most days he seem pretty normal, if a tad paranoid and martial, there were some days when he would even makes jokes about anything and everything... but then there were some days, dark days, when he looked so weak, as if the slightest touch could break him, or he were already broken... those days he would speak to himself, calling to someone, some brother, to help him... when I tried to help him find him he said there was no use, his brother was dead, and he wouldn't help, even if he were alive. He hated himself so much..." She shook her head sadly. "It's why I stayed. Even though he gave me a scare or two the first two or three times he got in those funks, I couldn't leave him when he was suffering so much. And he seemed to be getting better as the weeks passed, as if he found some kind of balance."

"What about his job?" Phil had a bad feeling.

"What indeed..." She let out a breath. "I knew from the day after we met he could be called back at any moment, he'd explained it to me. I was ready for it. Which is why, when we hit the month mark, after the assassination, we both knew something was wrong. I could feel the tension that wouldn't leave his body all day, he was strung tighter than the string of a bow... it was crazy. And then a call came from the reception desk, informing there was a message for him, and when he came back..." Skye shook her head, eyes tightly closed. "When he..."

She couldn't say it, couldn't bring herself to say the words... so Phil offered his hand to her again. Skye's reaction was immediate, and Phil could almost feel the relief as she pressed his fingers against her temple, and then hers to his. He was swallowed by the memory almost instantly.

_Skye was in the tub, the water was actually cold, the opposite of what most would expect from a relaxing bath, but she actually preferred it that way, always had. She felt more than saw the edge of the knife as it settled on the hollow of her throat._

" _So..." She didn't bother opening her eyes or trying to move. "Is this how it is going to end then? With my blood running down the drain?" She let out a breath, ignoring the nick on her throat when the hand holding the knife trembled. "How long do you think it'll take for anyone to find my body? It's not like anyone will care, I will just be one more dead body at the side of some road... or maybe even here in the motel. 'Depressed teenager commits suicide in a bathtub'... it's not like you cannot set it up like that. You've done it before, right? And like I just said, who'll care?"_

_Phil couldn't speak inside the memory, couldn't change anything, but it wasn't necessary either. He felt the moment the blade was pulled away from Skye's skin, and a second later heard the sound of metal on porcelain as it hit the tiled floor._

_The move was enough of a surprise Skye's eyes snapped open, just in time to see her 'assassin friend' stalking out of the bathroom. She reacted instantly, practically jumping of the tub, barely remembering to wrap a bathrobe around her naked body, and ignoring the water dripping down; only stopping to pick up the knife that still had the slightest trace of her blood on the tip (Phil half-absently noticed it was the same knife she showed him in the present)._

_The girl practically stumbled into the bedroom (she'd been slipping on the cheap tiles, and the change to carpet made her trip); she was holding her bathrobe close with one hand, too nervous to focus on tying it properly. She saw him standing on the other side of the bed, almost blending into the shadows of the corner of the room, just beyond the reach of the moonlight streaming through the gaps in the shutters covering the window._

" _James?" She called (It was the first time Phil has heard his name). "Ja..."_

" _Go." His voice was barely above a whisper, but she could still hear him._

" _What...?" She didn't expect that._

" _Take your things and go." He ordered, more strongly._

" _Wha... but why?" She couldn't believe he was being so callous._

" _I don't want you around anymore." He said coldly. "Now go!"_

" _No." She straightened in place. "I'm not leaving until you turn around and tell me what's going on. Face me you coward!"_

_The accusation was enough to make him react, as he turned around sharply, giving a threatening step in her direction before stopping in his tracks, one hand fisting almost convulsively inches away from her. Skye didn't even flinch._

_James pulled back his hand then, but did not step back, allowing his figure to be seen. Half of his body was still in the shadows, but what could be seen showed a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular man, dressed in dark cargo pants and a long-sleeved forest green shirt. His skin was tanned, hair dark brown, shaggy, framing the sharp features on his face and the piercing ice blue eyes, a small but still noticeable scar above one of his eyebrows, half hidden by his bangs. There was a hint of something in his expression, like anxiety and... fear. (Phil, with his experience, recognized it as fear right away, and not for himself... he was afraid for her...)_

" _Why don't you see I'm trying to help you?!" He practically snarled at her. "Take your things and get the fuck our of here!" A pained sound leaves her throat before he adds: "Natalia..."_

_Skye's expression softened almost immediately and then she was the one stepping forward, extending a hand to touch the side of James's face._

" _I'm not Natalia..." She whispered very softly. "And I am not leaving you James... at least not until you give me a good reason why..."_

" _You know I'm not a good person..." He swallowed almost convulsively as he explained. "You know I'm a killer, have known longer than I've been honest with you Little Cloud..."_

_The teenager just rolled her eyes, James seemed to take great delight in finding the one meaning of her name that was the rarest and most different from the usual ones and then turned it into his own personal nickname for her. Hence 'Little Cloud'._

" _I know..." It was until she said those words, that she understood the logical conclusion. "You've been given orders... that's what that call was all about." She swallowed before finishing her own thought: "You've been ordered to kill me."_

" _Yes." He didn't even try to hide it. "I should have known better than to keep you around for so long... Which is why you have to go now. So take your things and get moving!"_

_He made to push her, but Skye was stubborn, way too stubborn for her own good._

" _What will happen to you if I go?" She asked, refusing to move. "And what makes you think there isn't someone outside right now waiting to shoot me the moment I step out?"_

" _I already took care of that." He didn't try to pretend he meant anything other than the obvious. "They will notice eventually, which means you have to go, now!"_

" _What about you?" She insisted._

" _I don't matter." He threw her half-packed bag at her. "Now go!"_

" _Not without you!" She went through two octaves in her cry._

" _If you stay you will get killed!"_

" _I'm not leaving you behind to die in my place!" Her tone went softer, she was so very afraid, and trying her hardest to hide it. "Please... James, come with me... please."_

_He probably would never know why he did it, she certainly didn't; in the end they both ran._

More scenes followed, more like snapshots than actual memories, Phil witnessed what was probably the most insane and terrifying week in everyone's life, especially a 17 year old as Skye had been at the time. They kept running, mostly on foot; though a couple of times James had stolen motorcycles to move faster, and once Skye had managed to sweet-talk the driver of a truck to take them to the next state.

The two had spent the whole week traveling in a crazy zig-zag, changing directions without warning and doubling back, over and over again; though opposite to how it looked, they had a plan: get to Jefferson County in New York, and from there cross into Canada, where Skye hoped James's employers wouldn't be able to follow. It didn't work.

_It was raining again, like the night they met. Skye, with her hair cut short and covered in cheap black dye was in simple sweats and a hoodie, with James in similar clothes and a baseball cap; they had joined a tourist group as they crossed the Thousand Island Bridge. James found the droning of the tour-guide annoying, but it made it easier for the two to go unnoticed. At least until the real trouble began, shortly before they reached the half of the bridge..._

_It was insane, even the memory seemed to be missing pieces. There had been a crash between several vehicles, including the tour-bus. Then the shooting began, people screaming, running, it was all chaos. Skye wanted to run, but did not know which way to go, it seemed like things were happening all around; somehow, she and James ended standing on the very edge of the bridge, looking at the chaos before them._

" _This is all my fault..." James murmured horrified. "All my fault... my fault...my..."_

" _James focus!" Skye demanded, slapping him hard, once. "We don't have time for one of your breakdowns right now. If we're to survive we need to stay focused."_

" _Survive..." James repeated, his eyes steeling as he stared straight at her, with an intensity that surpassed anything she'd seen in him before. "Yes, you must survive."_

_She almost squealed in shock when he scooped her up in his arms; however, her shock turned to fear when he marched to the very edge of the bridge with her._

" _Wha... James..." She kept looking at the river bellow them, then at the bridge, and at him, going nearly hysterical with confusion and fear. "What are you doing? James?!"_

" _You must survive." He said in an almost blank tone. "If you're found, he will kill you, and you must survive... I cannot let you die..."_

" _But you... James..." She wasn't sure what horrified her more, his obvious intentions, or the evident disregard for his own life. "I can stay with you, fight with you!"_

" _He will kill you, but he will not kill me." He half-explained to her. "He still needs his weapon." He flexed one of his arms for emphasis. "You should have run earlier, like Natalia did..."_

" _I didn't want to leave you..." She admitted weakly. "I still don't... James... I don't want Him to hurt you, please... Tell me what I can do to save you..."_

" _Survive." He said one last time._

_And then she was flying... or falling, off the bridge and into the growing river 150 ft. below... she could have almost sworn she heard him whisper an apology before she completely lost sight of him, but the wind was howling on her ears and she couldn't be sure..._

_She barely remembered to roll into a ball in order to protect herself as best as possible from the impact. Still, it was strong enough she felt her breath leave her. And, as if things weren't bad enough, when she first tried to swim she hadn't the slightest idea where was up, or down, which way to go not to drown... somehow she managed, a gasping breath filling her burning lungs. But that was only the beginning of the fight for her life, as the rain kept pounding on her, and the current pulled her west and south... she fought for as long as she could, until eventually it just was too much, she lost consciousness._

Phil was still absolutely shocked when Skye pulled back, releasing him back to reality.

"How did you survive that?" He asked in a whisper after what seemed like forever.

"I have no idea." She admitted with a small sigh. "For the longest time I asked myself the same question. I couldn't understand how I survived, or even why... at first there didn't seem to be a reason why I should even be alive..." She shook her head, as if to ride herself of such thoughts. "When I recovered consciousness I'd washed to the coast of Lake Ontario, in some small town northeast of Rochester. I don't know how many days I was in the water, but it was a while, and somehow I managed to survive... and nobody found me until I washed down the Bay... I have no idea how I did it, but somehow I managed to get all the way to Rochester, with nothing but the clothes on my back and the knife he'd left me with (I lost everything else on the bridge), eating what scraps I could find. I got sick at some point, either from my trip down the river and the lake, or from traveling in my soaked clothes, I don't know. But that was how Karen found me, hiding in a corner of an alley, by the back-exit of her little bakery. And my life changed, again."

For the longest time, not a word was said; Phil just pondered silently on the story, while Skye waited for him to offer some kind of reaction to it.

"Why have you never spoken about this?" He asked quietly after what seemed like forever.

"In case it escaped your notice Phil, I hardly ever talk about my past." Skye replied flippantly, then more softly. "At least I didn't use to... until you." She sighed. "It's not easy. I've not had the easiest life. I will not go all 'damsel in distress', begin crying about no one loving me, the world being against me and all that crap, I'm not that kind of girl. But after so many years... people did not care for me, and those that did either left me, I lost them or had to give them up: Josef, Alec, Darcy, Chloe, Karen, James, Fox..." She broke off. "The team changed that... you changed that AC..."

"Until Ward betrayed us..." Phil couldn't help but mutter.

"We're still a family." Skye assured him. "What Ward did... it was awful, but he did not tear us apart. Nothing ever will..."

Phil nodded, wanting nothing more than to believe she was right on that.

"So... where are we going to see this James then?" He asked then.

Skye didn't even try to stop him, she knew well enough it would be useless. So instead she just threw him the keys to Lola and off they went.

**xXx**

They made it to Elysian Park, by the Northeast Area of Los Angeles, after a while. On the way Skye explained that her phone, thanks to an app she had designed, detected a series of coded messages that had been placed in several newspapers across the country; messages left by James, asking for her help. They'd actually begun days before, right before they'd moved into the apartments Josef had arranged for them. She'd returned the messages informing him where she was; what she never expected was for him to arrive so quickly. She'd though he would prefer to wait in the East-Coast, where he'd been. Until her phone decoded a new message that morning, the bottom line was: 'I'm here.' It was then that Skye almost had a stroke.

"And what exactly are you planning to do, once you find him?" Phil asked her at some point.

"I don't know." She admitted nervously. "All I know is I'll do everything in my power to help him, it's the least I can do..." She turned to face Phil. "I know you probably don't like this. Helping assassins most likely isn't on your to-do list."

"He helped you, saved you." Phil interrupted her. "That's enough reason for me."

Skye couldn't help the smile, and the thought that Phil was so good to her, maybe sometimes even too good... though that was one thing she hoped would never change.

Phil couldn't help but keep watching Skye every so often as he drove, which was how he noticed the shadow falling over her eyes as they crossed the Los Angeles River... a shadow he recognized as he'd seen it before, when she'd told him about the time she'd lived in LA, the end of that time... and as she'd been thinking of things she hadn't said.

"Why do your eyes darken every time you think about this place?" He asked straight out.

The question was so sudden, so unexpected, Skye actually jumped, reaching with a hand to Phil, briefly touching the side of his neck. For a fraction of a second Phil got an image: there were heavy clouds in the sky, a storm about to begin; there was the river, the currents going wild with the added water of other recent storms; but the real shock was beside it, all the figures standing, holding weapons of all kinds, in a tense stand-off, as if a war were about to begin... Phil could hear the clap of thunder, and then the image vanished.

"What was that?" He asked with a gasp, fighting to keep control of the car, least they have an accident right there on the freeway.

"I cannot say." She whispered, just as shocked as him by the image.

It was quite obvious that, whatever that was, she'd never intended for him to see it.

"You know, I can still remember that conversation we had back at the Hub, when I told you one day I might need to trust you with a secret, and needed to know you could keep it..." He let out a breath as he shook his head. "I knew you could do it, even as I said that. And yet... I could have never imagined something like this."

"That I would already be keeping so many secrets?" Skye guessed

"That, and that it would drive me so crazy not being in on them." Phil admitted.

"I've had to keep secrets for many years, concerning many different things." Skye admitted. "Truth is, if I weren't such a good secret-keeper, I probably would be dead several times over by now." She shook her head to push the thought away. "It's part of why I was so into the Rising Tide at first, and even after things went to hell with Miles, for the most part I still liked them. I was so tired of keeping secrets, many times very dangerous secrets... that the idea of getting a few of them out there, of making it so people didn't have to suffer for those secrets... it was almost intoxicating. At least that's the way I saw it. Until I realized how dangerous it could be for the general public to have that information; and even then, it took Yin's death to drive the point home... you must think I'm insane."

"Not insane, no." Phil's voice was understanding, soothing "You were just an innocent, idealistic young woman others took advantage of."

Skye shook her head to herself, she didn't exactly agree with Phil's assessment, but still, she knew better than to try and disagree with him, it would only start a new argument (the kind that got them nowhere) and neither was she in the mood, nor did they have the time, to get into it.

It was right then that they finally made it to the Park. The place was huge, it included the Dodgers Stadium, as well as several other baseball fields, a community garden, an arboretum, a WWI Memorial, and over half a dozen picnic areas.

"Where are we going exactly?" Phil asked as they stepped out of the car.

"The Arboretum." Skye announced after considering for a few seconds. "He's less likely to be noticed there, more shadows to hide in." She seemed to ponder a bit more before turning to him. "You might want to stay back a safe distance. He's not going to like that I have company, and if you stand too close he might even see it as a threat."

"Is he really that volatile?" Phil inquired, getting tense. "And if he is, shouldn't you have come with more backup rather than less?"

"He will never hurt me." Skye's conviction over the fact was absolute. "After the second time I was present during one of his breakdowns, something changed that made it so he can recognize me even when he's mostly gone. He will never hurt me." She narrowed her eyes. "You on the other hand... If he sees a gun or anything... well, depending on how on edge he is, he will either bail or attack. And considering recent events..."

"Recent events?" Phil didn't like the sound of that.

"You know that when I got into SHIELD my priority was to learn about my parents." She tried to explain in a round-about way. "After... what happened, I no longer needed to do that. Then when I became Astrid, I was a real Agent, and I got access to a lot of info... I remembered James. I wondered if SHIELD knew about him, if they might know about his employer. Who caused that awful accident on the bridge, only to get a 'weapon' back, who wanted James to kill his only friend to keep him under control."

"Did you find him? Either of them?" Phil was suddenly curious about it too.

"Not back then." Skye answered grimly.

"Not bac..." Phil really didn't like the sound of that.

"I found him a week and a half ago..." She added in a whisper.

"A week and..." Phil broke off when the facts caught up to him.

"I wasn't looking for him at the time!" She clarified immediately. "I was doing my best to take all your files and those of the team and seal them before Natasha could release everything online, when suddenly there it was... right in front of me. I had no idea what was in the file, but the moment I recognized him I took that as well." She let out a breath. "Then, the day after we got settled in all the apartments I finally got the time to look it over; what I found... it was horrific." She swallowed a sob. "It made me respect James a great deal more, for everything he's endured... it also made me terrified at what he might be like now. The things they did to him when they caught him in that bridge..." She trembled. "It was exactly why I didn't want to leave him! The fact that he even remembers me after everything..." She shook her head harshly. "It's also why I just couldn't refuse when he asked for my help. The debt I owe him is far too great, and he deserves far, far more than he's ever got..."

"What about his employer?" Phil remembered that detail. "He went after your friend before, and that happened, shouldn't we be getting ready in case it happens again?"

"It won't happen." Skye replied blankly, then before Phil could ask she explained. "His employer is dead... he was killed ten days ago... It was Alexander Pierce..."

Phil didn't reply to that, he simply did not have the words, he wasn't sure he would ever have them. So he said nothing, and simply followed Skye, falling behind some the closer they came to the arboretum. He had no idea what to expect, but he didn't want to complicate things for Skye and her friend, and even with all he didn't know, he really wanted to help.

They had just reached the forested area when the little something that had been nagging at the back of Phil's mind finally cleared up. Abruptly he realized why all the details, when put together, sounded so dangerously familiar to him. The answer came to him at the same time the figure, half enveloped in shadows, stepped from behind a tree, barely a handful of feet away from the young brunette Phil loved more than anything. Skye's old friend James, was none other than James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes, former Howling Commando, best friend of Captain America, and the almost mythical assassin known as the Winter Soldier...

"Who are you?!" The assassin, with his metal arm reflecting the light or a nearby lamp, demanded of the young brunette.

"James?" She seemed confused by that. "It's me, Skye. The 'Little Cloud'."

"The Little Cloud's eyes aren't blue." He hissed back.

"Ah, that..." She had gotten so used to the change she had forgotten. "Things have happened, this is what I look like now. I promise you James, it is me."

James gave a step closer, studying the young woman, and Phil couldn't help the instinctual reaction as he reached for the gun at his side. James heard him even before the safety was off; against Skye's predictions he didn't attack, or run, though his tension was obvious enough.

"You do not trust me." He told the young woman in an almost accusing tone. "I see you have come with company."

"AC is no threat to you, James." She tried to reassure him. "He just wouldn't let me leave the apartment on my own. Since my kidnapping he worries too much about me."

"You were kidnapped?!" The assassin bristled at the mere idea.

"Someone we believed to be part of our team..." She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. He took me for a short time, but my team got me back, and I'm alright."

"Team?" He sounded increasingly suspicious.

"Right... I've been working for SHIELD for the last year or so." She tried to make it sound as inconsequential, but knew it was useless.

It hadn't actually been a year yet, more like eight months, but the reaction was the same.

"You're not the Little Cloud." James practically snarled. "The girl I knew would have never worked for those monsters!"

"You're talking about Pierce, I know." She tried to sound soothing. "I know what he did to you James but you need to understand, AC..."

"They're all the same!" James interrupted her with a snap.

She could see it, the insanity creeping in, as James began turning into the Soldier ever so slowly; she knew what that meant, and it wouldn't be good.

"I'm still the same girl!" She cried out, in an attempt to stop the transformation.

"Prove it." He challenged.

She knew then it was too late, when James was in 'Soldier mode' as she called it, he stopped listening to gentle words, to reasoning: he only understood orders, and only obeyed those given by people who proved to have power, which meant there was no other way...

"AC..." She called quietly, never actually taking her eyes off the Soldier. "Whatever happens. Do not try to interfere."

"Skye...?" Phil had the feeling he wasn't going to like what would be happening.

"Just trust me, please." The woman practically pleaded.

And how could he not? So he just nodded, slipping his gun back to its holster as he settled back to wait for whatever was coming.

The Agent almost gaped when he watched Skye tugging at her sash before slipping her dress off as if it were nothing. She threw the cloth back at him, knowing Phil would catch it. And it was until he managed to clear his mind from the shock a handful of seconds later that he actually paid attention to what had been revealed: Skye was left standing in a skin-tight black-leather two-piece suit (a halter top, with a red-tube top underneath and mini-shorts), showing the holsters on each leg, one with a knife, the other with one of her guns.

Phil had seen Skye in many different ways: in the old days, with her purple dresses and knee-length skirts with boots; as Menel with her battle dress, staff and knives; as Agent Avery with her leather jacket, tight-ponytail and guns. He also realized that what he was seeing in that moment was an entirely different version of the brunette, one with less layers (literally and figuratively), perhaps even the most real he'd seen yet.

Without a word Skye pulled a couple of single-edged blades from their hidden sheaths in her boots, holding one in a direct, frontal grip, the other in a back-handed one, before dropping on a half crouch, one leg extended to a side, balancing with one fist (without letting go of the blade) while holding the other defensively before her. She was ready.

There was no signal, no warning. One second the Winter Soldier was standing tensely beside a tree, Skye crouched a handful of feet away from him; the next they were crashing against each other, fighting with such fierceness that an outside observer would believe their lives were on the line. Phil knew differently, but didn't worry any less.

It was a battle impossible to properly describe. When Phil finally relaxed enough to worry less and focus more on what was happening he couldn't help but appreciate the sight. He had heard in the past people describing battles as beautiful, breath-taking, enchanting... he had thought they were all insane. Being in as many battles for his life as he'd been while working for SHIELD, he couldn't understand how there could be beauty in something like that. In that moment he finally saw it. After the third time when the Soldier visible pulled back a move that could have seriously injured Skye, and the fifth she jumped back onto her feet after a blow that would have downed even the best fighters he knew, Phil stopped worrying so much about her. Instead he admired their style, their technique, the way they kept getting into each other's space and somehow managed to get out with just a few more bruises, sometimes a minor cut. They knew each other so well it was no problem to avoid lethal injuries, even with a metal arm that so obviously held more power than any human one, and two blades being involved.

At some point Skye lost both blades, one actually ended in the Soldier's hand, as he began using it against her. But she didn't allow that to stop her, rolling back to her feet as she tore free the strip of the black top James had slashed at, leaving her midriff-bare (he had cut the cloth, but didn't even nick the skin). In a swift move Skye pulled free the blade strapped to her thigh, the very knife James had left her with when they 'parted ways' in that bridge, and used it against him.

"You cannot win, Little Cloud." James teased her as he began relaxing into the fight. "Concede!"

"Is your mind failing you in your old age grandpa?" Skye teased back with a smirk. "You know better than to think I'll ever give up!"

"You cannot defeat me little one." He responded, growing more animated by the minute.

"You might have been my first trainer, James, but you weren't my last!" She responded. "I've had amazing people help me become better, and it's been seven years!"

The battle went on then.

Eventually the end came, as unexpectedly as the start had been. They had been moving faster and faster somehow, instead of slowing down, exchanging teasing comments every now and then; until suddenly every movement stopped: The Winter Soldier was on the ground, with Skye on him, one knee on his chest and the other on his metal arm, immobilizing it, her knife held against the side of his neck, the one non-cutting part of it pressed against his jugular. At the same time, the metal hand of the Soldier, even with his arm pressed down, was twisted in such a way that he was holding onto Skye's ankle, stopping her from moving to a side; while in his other hand he held the blade he'd taken from her, dull size against her collarbone.

"You have gotten better, Little Cloud." James recognized. "But you still loose."

"Not quite." She replied suddenly.

The glint of mischief in her eyes would have made her parentage quite obvious for anyone who had met Loki even once. In a flip second James saw his blade practically fly off the side, on its own, without Skye moving a muscle. He was shocked he couldn't help but drop his arm.

"What was that?!" He demanded, staring straight at her.

"Magic." Skye answered flippantly, still not letting go of her advantage. "You always did say I was to use every advantage I might have so... do you concede?"

For a few seconds it seemed like he might refuse, but then James closed his eyes, threw his head back and laughed.

"Well?" Skye half-demanded, though she was already beginning to relax.

"You win Little Cloud." He admitted.

Skye smiled brightly at him but instead of getting on her feet she just settled more comfortably on James's stomach. As her adrenaline went down she realized how exhausted the battle had left her. She hadn't been in such a fight since her last day training with Sif, before her return from Asgard. She was getting rusty... and that could be dangerous. Which meant she needed to up her training. Hopefully with Phil releasing his true abilities they would be able to help each other.

After a minute or so working on getting her breath back Skye was finally going to ask her old friend exactly what he needed when he suddenly reacted in a way she could have never expected:

"What the hell happened to you?!" He demanded abruptly.

He sat up suddenly and fast enough she slipped off his stomach, ending up half-splayed on his thighs, and even then she did not understand.

"What...?" She was completely confused.

"That!" He pointed at her midriff. "What the hell happened to you?!"

She instinctively reached to her stomach, not actually understanding his attitude until her fingers came in contact with two knotted scars...

"Oh... that." She whispered before sitting back up slowly.

"Yes, that." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Did SHIELD do this to you?"

"No!" She took offense to that. "A sociopathic bastard called Ian Quinn did this when me and my team came too close to catching him during a mission in Italy a few months ago."

"I will kill him." James stated, it wasn't a question.

"Get in line." Phil muttered from a few feet to a side.

It was then that James finally turned to acknowledge Phil, looking him up and down.

"Why isn't the bastard who shot her dead already?" He demanded of the Agent.

"Because at the time when we caught him, we believed in a system." Phil answered honestly. "We handed him to SHIELD to imprison him, believing it was the right thing to do."

"You trusted the system..." James snorted. "The same system that made me this..." He signaled to his metal arm. "That made me a monster..."

Before he could say anything more he found a tanned finger poking him repeatedly, and quite strongly, in the chest.

"You Are Not A Monster." Skye emphasized each word with a poke. "If my father and I don't get to call ourselves monsters for something out of our control, something we were born as... you don't get to call yourself that for something that was done to you without your consent!"

"Monster? Father?" James asked with increasing confusion.

"It's a long story." Skye admitted with a shrug. "And I'm not sure if you're planning on staying long enough to tell it..."

It was an effective reminder of what had brought them to that place, James's call, and the fact that their situation might not be the best in that moment.

With a sigh James pushed to his feet, pulling Skye with him.

"If you are with SHIELD I imagine you know already what happened in Washington." The Soldier said without introduction.

"We know." The young woman nodded. "We were prevented from making it there on time, but other battles needed to be fought. A member of our own team was Hydra..."

"The one who kidnapped you." James guessed, then turned to Phil. "And you rescued her."

"I did." Phil nodded.

"Good." James seemed satisfied by that. "Pierce is dead, and I got rid of the team he used to keep me under control..."

"James, what happened seven years ago..." Skye began in a broken voice.

"It's alright, Little Cloud." He touched the side of her neck in a soothing gesture.

"No, it's not!" She cried out her denial. "They hurt you! Pierce and his men! They hurt you, badly! Because I convinced you to run with me. And then they couldn't find me. I didn't want to leave you, I swear I..."

"I didn't give you a choice." James interrupted her rant. "I chose to do what was needed so you would be safe, Skye. And that's not a choice I think I'll ever regret..." His voice turned dark. "In all the years I've lived... all the years I've been a slave. I've been forced to do many things, whatever I might have once cared about, I was forced to sacrifice. Only twice have I been able to save someone, and no matter what the cost to myself was, it was worth it. You were worth it."

"You're talking about Natalia..." She nodded in understanding.

"Yes." He nodded. "The Little Spider was another that deserved better, and that I was able to help her, regardless of how small that help was, made me happy." His voice turned soft. "I wasn't even sure if you would survive, when I threw you off a bridge, I just knew it was a better option for you than staying where you would undoubtedly be caught. The kind of things that bastard Pierce would have done to you..." He shook his head. "I would have never been able to protect you. I tried with Natalia, and in the end she was only safe when she left. It's why I knew I should have sent you away from the first night... but you didn't know how to defend yourself, and I was so afraid of finding you in the morning, your body bruised, raped, dead, in a ditch..."

"You saved me..." She whispered back at him, pressing their foreheads together. "You saved me James, and I will always be thankful to you for that. It's why I am here right now. I owe you my life, and I will do anything I can to repay you."

"You remind me of my best friend, you know?" He asked wistfully. "Looking so slight, so cute... yet so strong inside." He tilted his head to a side, pondering. "And in time, you both changed to reflect that strength... yes, you are very much like him. My best friend, my..."

"Brother." She finished for him. "Will you finally tell me his name? Whenever I asked you in the past you would change the conversation, tell me you couldn't remember; that he either was dead or had forgotten all about you..."

"I didn't remember his name for the longest time." He told her. "Eve when I saw him again, my eyes did not recognize him... Pierce sent me after him..."

"Did you...?" She didn't dare even finish the question.

"I couldn't..." James admitted quietly. "At first his strength surprised me, and then when he recognized me... he knew who I was when I myself didn't. He knew and he did not doubt. Even when I threatened to kill him... He refused to fight me!" The Soldier's voice turned into an almost desperate cry as he dropped to his knees. "He said... he said: I'm with you to the end of the line..."

It was as if the phrase were some kind of trigger, as James began convulsing violently on the ground. Skye and Phil together tried to calm him down, but it was impossible, in the end she was forced to use her magic to immobilize him, if only so he wouldn't hurt himself.

"James!" She cried to him as soon as he was 'frozen'. "James you need to calm down, please!" She was getting hysterical, not knowing what to do. "Tell me what to do James, please. Tell me what I can do to help you!"

"The...there's n-nothing you-u can do to h-help me Li...Little Cloud." James told her in a broken voice. "I... I broke my programming in time to save Steve... but I cannot save myself, not from this. Too many triggers, too much damage done through the years... My mind is shattered, it has been for a long time but now... Now it's finally falling into pieces. And there's no way to stop it. I only came to see you one last time, make sure you were okay and... and if it's not much to ask. I hope you'll agree to meet with Steve one day. Find him, and tell him the truth. About me, what happened, what I've done. I know if you don't have it already you can find it. You have become a legend... Little Cloud: Agent Astrid Avery..."

"You..." Skye wasn't expecting that. "I never told you about that."

"You didn't need to." James told her quietly. Pierce had a file on you... at first I thought he had found you, until I realized he had no idea that the girl he was so interested in 'inducting', was the same one who had come so close to taking this weapon away from him, forever."

"He wanted to induct me?!" Skye's voice went through two octaves in her shock. "Into Hydra?!"

"It's why I knew I had to find you, before it was too late." The Soldier declared. "I had to make sure Hydra hadn't gotten to you." He half-smiled as he looked at Phil. "And I find that they tried, but your white-knight saved you... What is your name?"

"Coulson." The Senior Agent answered almost reflexively. "Agent Phil Coulson."

"Phil Coulson..." He repeated, suddenly recognizing the name. "Phillip James Coulson?"

"You have heard about me." After everything he'd heard, Phil wasn't exactly surprised, he was still curious what the Winter Soldier might have heard.

"You are supposed to be dead." James deadpanned. "Pierce was planning on having you killed, until you were reported KIA in New York... then he sent me against Fury instead."

"I did die..." Phil began, then shook his head. "It's complicated."

"I can imagine." James agreed. "And it's not like I need to know. I am dying already anyway."

"No, you're not." Skye's denial was strong enough to sound like conviction.

"Little Cloud..."

"Don't 'Little Cloud' me James!" She snapped at him. "You aren't dying because I say you aren't dying! And I would like to see you try and oppose me in this!"

James opened his mouth to say something else, but he was already losing the ability to do even that, the signals his brain sent failing.

"You are not dying on me James!" Skye practically screeched at him. "I won't allow it!"

In an instant she was kneeling over him again and then, James could have sworn he saw her figure ripple. In a second the leather two-piece she had used as battle clothes vanished, leaving in its place a floor-length, double-skirt, long-sleeved, wide-v-necked light-lavender colored elven-style gown with delicate pale-gold embroidery on several areas, pale-gold slippers covering his feet, and a mithril tiara with a blue gemstone on her head.

Skye bend until she could place the very center of the palms of her hands on James's temples, then she closed her eyes and began focusing. She had never used her magic like that, but she needed to believe it could be done, there was no other option, she wan't letting a friend die! Not when she could do something about it!

Phil looked at her in silence, wanting to ask what she was planning but knowing she needed to concentrate. He had seen her do very little magic since her discovery of it; though he'd been told by both Darcy and Clint what had happened the day Skye had returned to his life, how he might not be alive without her... he wholeheartedly believed she could save James as well.

After an undetermined amount of time Skye spoke out-loud, and to James, neither of which Phil was expecting, though he remained silent, watching over them.

"James... I can save you." She announced.

Phil knew there had to be a catch, otherwise she would just be doing it, rather than talking about it, he just hoped it wasn't something too bad, for either of them. It was insane that until a couple of hours before he'd seen the Winter Soldier as an enemy (after he knew he was real, and more than just a boogeyman), and in such a short time he'd come to care for his fate, wanting him to survive, for Skye to be able to save him. It was all the brunette's fault.

"I can use my magic and restore what's been lost but..." She hesitated before finally revealing the catch. "That much of my magic in your system... there will be consequences. You will be bound to me, dependent on me. You... the best comparison I can make is that of debt bondage." She swallowed her distaste. "I don't like it, it's so close to slavery it almost makes me sick! But it's the only way I know to help you. I..."

"Did you..." James coughed before finding the strength to answer her. "Did you know that i-in ancient times it was believe-d that if you saved someone's life... y...you were r-responsible for that person-n for the rest of t-their lives."

"Are you saying you agree?" She could hardly believe it, even at the same time she wished for the chance to save him.

"I... there's some much I've done wrong... so much I need to make amends for." He explained in an increasingly quiet voice. "To do that... I need to be alive."

"Say it." Skye ordered stoically. "I need to hear you say it. I need to know you understand what this means..."

"I agree to be indentured to you." She stated as clearly as he could. "Save me... Little..."

It was all he managed to say, it was enough. Before his eyes finished closing Skye was again pressing her hands against his temples. Then she began talking a litany in a mix of elvish (which Phil half-understood) and Norse (which he identified, but did not know). Her eyes were closed for a while but when they opened... Phil could have sworn they were shining with a light of their own like blue diamonds... like stars.

The chanting went on for a while, and at some point a light-show was added. A moment came when Phil began to wonder if he would have to invent some story when the people leaving the park approached to question him about what was going on, until he saw several such people walking down a nearby path on their way to their cars, and realized they weren't seeing anything. The lights were only visible to him!

Eventually the light seemed to narrow, going from a blob to forming what looked like strands, which wove together to form what looked like a plait... or a chain. That chain of light, of power, then wound around the two of them, eventually wounding around their rights arms. In Skye it seemed to sink into her skin, disappearing completely, in James it formed into an armband, which then became physical. Almost like a cuff, made of black leather, with what looked like dark-gold filigree forming a design that looked like multiple 'X' connected. Phil suspected it was the symbol of the connection, the debt or 'indenture', as they'd called it.

As the lights finally died Phil began wondering if he should do something, call to Skye, call for someone to help, if something else needed to happen, until he suddenly heard her voice in his head, he couldn't identify the language she was speaking in, but it did not seem to matter either, only what she was saying did (and the fact that, somehow, she'd managed to establish telepathic contact without touching him, something that had always been necessary before).

*This is just the start.* She informed him calmly. *He is alive, and will stay that way, but his mind is still far from healed. It will take a while, I don't know how long, and we will both be unconscious during the duration of it. I know it's not fair to leave you to handle things with the team, especially when I didn't give them any kind of warning but...*

"It's alright." Phil interrupted her. "I will just tell them he's a friend and they can ask you all about it when you're both awake."

Skye's laughter echoed inside his head in such a way it made him shiver... he liked it.

*Don't let them hurt him.* She insisted, softly. *May, Trip, Clint... they won't see him as a man, as even human, they will only see the Winter Soldier. And there's so much more to him than that... so much...*

"I know..." He replied.

And he did, from the very first moment James's eyes had laid on Skye, Phil had know there was more to that man, that the Winter Soldier every agent and mercenary knew of and whispered about as if he were the devil... or a ghost. No, the soldier... James, was a man, and he would make sure the others saw that. May would call him insane, though after everything he'd done in the last year she probably wouldn't be that surprised, especially not with Skye so obviously involved; if there was anyone on the team that was more likely to suspect he had feelings for the young brunette it was Melinda. Clint would be furious, most likely, having heard what the Soldier had done in Washington, but he would respect Phil's choice; he also hoped Darcy would have the same kind of trust in him, or at least Skye. Trip was the hardest to predict, but hopefully his desire to be involved in what the team was doing would allow him to at least give them the benefit of the doubt. FitzSimmons would just follow the others' lead.

With that in mind Phil brought out his phone to make a call, even with his developing power there was no way he could get both Skye and James back to the apartments on his own, especially not in Lola. He would need help.

As he began making the call, Phil began wondering how long it would take for them to wake up, if they would be ready in time for the next move against Garrett. He hoped they would, even though they were more than before, and Phil had absolute confidence in every member of his team, going against Garrett wouldn't be easy, at all.

His line of thought was interrupted when the call finally connected.

"Hello, May? I need your help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As some people may or may not be able to realize, I was in the planning stages of the Menel series when CA2 came out. At first I began planning a rewriting of the series, only with Phil's team right in the middle of it all. Then I realized that doing something like that would take credit away from those who're only human yet tried so hard... like Sam, Sharon, Maria, and everyone else. Also, it's hell to go around rewriting movies! (I've done it, with and without scripts on hand, several times even). Also, I liked the plot the series took at the same time. 
> 
> Still, one idea had already gotten into my head by that point. The friendship between Skye and James, and her saving him. And, of course, making this into an excuse for him to stick around! 
> 
> In other words, I hope you'll like the mess I'm making of this (it's gonna get worse with all the other crossovers I'm introducing in the next story). James is pretty much 'joining the cast', as will some others in the future. 
> 
> You're running out of time to tell me which crossovers you would be most interested in seeing, and any particular preferences for pairings (I'm currently writing Astrid... as I finished writing Avery two days ago). 
> 
> Next week: Avery's finale! (My take on the show's season 1 finale... some things might be same and other's... well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? (cackles madly). 
> 
> See ya around!


	5. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Finale is here! Or the Beginning, depending on how you choose to see it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so happy you liked my introduction of James into this crazy story. He's in for the long haul. 
> 
> Here you'll see my own version of the series finale, with some serious changes. Some things are still being kept the same, either because it was easier that way, I liked the scene too much, or I need something from there for the future. I hope you'll like it anyway. 
> 
> We have a cameo here from F&F, I have no actual plans of turning this into a true crossover with that franchise. I just needed someone to cover that part. 
> 
> So... enjoy!

**Chapter 5. The Beginning**

When Skye's stormy blue eyes opened again, 36 hours had passed since she'd last closed them. It was no longer evening, and she wasn't in the park. Instead she was back in the apartment she shared with the other girls. Though, not everything was as it should be: the second bed, instead of containing Jemma, had James on it, and Skye could sense one other person in the apartment: it was Darcy. Matter of fact, the three of them were the only people on the floor... which didn't actually surprise Skye, she may have spent she first 24 hours going through both her memories and James's while repairing his mind. After that she'd spent a few hours resting, but since her 'awakening' to her true self and power, Skye did not need much sleep as she used to, which meant she'd spent the last few hours seeing the past and the present.

It was really rotten luck, that so much had happened precisely when she was incapacitated, but there was nothing she could do to change the past.

The morning after the meeting with James, Clint had gotten a call from Natasha, who told him she needed his help in getting out of the country unnoticed by the authorities while she worked some things out (Skye had offered to create her a new identity, but after blowing all her covers, some things had come up, and Natasha claimed she needed to tie up some lose ends of her old covers before she was ready for a new one). Phil had given Clint the keys to the smaller of the two planes they had access to, the one FitzSimmons and Koenig had flown out of Providence (Eric had since disappeared, somewhere, with help from Maria Hill, none of them had asked), so he could get Natasha to Eastern Russia (she claimed she could handle things from there).

That same afternoon the extensive research the team was doing with the files they'd gotten from Cybertek paid of when they found a probable location for Garrett and the others: a barbershop in la Havana, Cuba. They knew Garrett would be moving at any moment after the break-in, so the team had decided to go ahead, even with smaller numbers. At the last minute they had decided to leave Darcy behind, as none but Phil actually trusted James not to kill Skye the moment he woke up, and even if Darcy's experience as an Agent wasn't as extensive as everyone else's, she was a good enough shot, and FitzSimmons were confident the reinforced ICER could take down even the Winter Soldier.

Things hadn't exactly gone according to plan. After they'd landed in the smaller airport in the area the team had had to split: May, Trip and Phil had gone in search of the Barbershop and Garrett, while FitzSimmons were sent to the main airport to see if they could find the Bus. Both found the places and things they were looking for, but not the people. On the first half of the team, Trip at least had managed to connect Skye's flash-drive to a computer in the place to activate the missing part of Skye's Trojan Horse, before a group of Centipede-Soldiers made their appearance. May and Phil had managed to keep up with them for a short time (Phil especially surprising the others) before May used the Berserker staff to bring the whole place down. FitzSimmons on the other hand... they had found the Bus, too far away from the Barbershop for the rest of the team to join them in time; the biggest problem was that Ward caught them there, forced them to board the Bus, and then, on Garrett's order, got rid of them, by dropping the med-pod the pair had taken refuge in after a scuffle.

The first thing Skye did upon getting control of herself, even while unconscious, was to get some help for Jemma and Leo, before dropping by to see them and inform them of the fact... which was probably a good idea, seeing as the pair were beginning to work on a plan of their own, of the last-resource, desperate kind, that quite possibly would have ended with one of them dead.

_Menel appeared in the middle of what looked like a medpod (a wall, in fact), to find Jemma and Leo having a rather intense argument:_

" _No!" Jemma was saying in a passionate tone. "I'm not leaving you here! That's ridiculous. We need a new plan."_ _  
_

_"_ _We're not discussing it, okay?" Leo declared ignoring all her pleading as best he could, it was all for her, after all. "You're taking it, end of story." He hesitated a second before adding._ _"_ _I couldn't live if you didn't..."_ _  
_

_"_ _Well, I feel the same way." Jemma insisted, not giving up. "There has to be another way."_ _  
_

_"_ _You're taking it." Leo pressed the small oxygen tank with barely enough for one breath into her trembling hands._ _  
_

_"_ _Why? Why would you make me do this?" She cried. "You're my best friend in the world!"_

" _Yeah, and you're more than that, Jemma." He admitted with a sigh. "I know I haven't always been the best at showing it. We've been together for years and it's likely that if we hadn't been caught kissing by Coulson that one time, the team would have never known. I'm not the most demonstrative guy, but I love you, I hope you know that."_

" _I do know that." Jemma nodded quietly. "And I love you too Leo..."_

" _I... I'm no good at words..." He mumbled, one hand inside the pocket of his pants, holding tightly onto something. "So, please let me show you."_

_He embraced her then, whispering sweet nothings into her ear before trying to, surreptitiously, slip something in his hand into her pocket. He failed, as she moved just in time for the object to fall to the floor, just for her to pick it up a second later. It was a ring..._

" _Leo..." Jemma gasped as she straightened up, ring in hand._

_He had no words. His plan was for her to find the ring until it was all said and done, once she was safe, not then, and certainly not when her life was still in danger._

" _No!" Jemma cried her denial. "You're not leaving me with this and then giving up! I am not becoming a widow before I get the chance to be a bride!"_

" _Jemma..." Leo's voice broke slightly in his fear for her. "You need to understand there is no other option. Only one of us has a chance at getting out of here alive, and it's gotta be you..."_

_It looked like Jemma was preparing to fight that statement_ _when Menel finally managed to become visible (if not actually tangible) right next to FitzSimmons, as soon as their attention was called to her, she jumped straight into the conversation._

" _I would ask if you'd rather I come back later and all that..." She quipped before turning sober. "But considering the circumstances I think it would be best if we could focus on getting you out of here sooner rather than later."_

" _Can you do that?" Jemma asked, so full of hope._

" _Not myself, not as I am right now." Menel admitted grimly. "I cannot do any magic in this form, and seeing how my body is still in California..." She shook her body. "But worry not, I talked to someone, he'll get you out of here and as close to the beach as he can. He won't be able to push you all the way to dry land, but your situation will still be much better. I promise." She smiled. "You will come out in Miami..."_

" _And how are we supposed to find you?" Leo asked, worried. "I left the tracker in the Bus, but Phil and the others were in Cuba..."_

" _I know, we've tracked the Bus to New Mexico, we're all rendezvousing there." Menel informed the couple with a smile._

" _And what about us?" Leo insisted._

" _Once you get to Miami, go to the harbor." Menel instructed. "There's a mechanic shop there, administered by a group of old acquaintances. Ask for Suki, tell her Skye sent you. She'll get you to where you need to be as fast as humanly possible."_

" _Does she have a plane?" Leo asked, confused._

" _No, better." Menel answered with a mischievous smile._

_There was no way she was explaining about racers and the speeds they were capable of going to Leo; he might get a stroke at the prospect and then where would they be?_

" _I gotta go now." She announced before more questions could be asked. "Stay safe."_

_Even as she disappeared she couldn't help but wonder what Leo's face would look like when he saw what they would be traveling in? Or after the trip itself? Maybe he would be so shocked at how they even got to the beach he wouldn't pay attention to that part. The brunette couldn't help but wonder which one would be more shocking in the end to him: Suki as a racer, or her big brother: Jörmungandr?_

"Are you finally awake, Sleeping Beauty?" The masculine voice coming from the other bed pulled Skye back to reality in a second.

"I've been awake for a while, technically." Skye informed him as she began stretching a bit to wake up fully. "There were a few things that needed my attention." She sat up, turning to look straight at his friend. "What about you? How long have you been awake?

"And hour or two, haven't really been paying attention." He told her with a lazy stretch of his flesh-and blood arm, which he'd been laying on.

"And why are you on bed still then?" Skye couldn't believe it. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Your friend is out there." James explained. "I can practically sense her tension. I didn't think she would like to see me up and about when you were still unconscious."

Skye nodded half-absently as she got on her feet and began looking for some clothes, she was in serious need of a shower...

"I cannot believe I haven't asked this..." She murmured as she gathered her clothes, turning again to her friend. "How are you James?"

"Wonderful." He answered honestly, using an elbow to move up a bit. "My head is so blissfully clear... I hadn't felt like this since the war!"

"Since you fell from that train...?" She guessed.

"No..." James shook his head, fully sitting up. "Since that bastard, Zola, began those crazy experiments on me while me and my men were prisoners..."

Skye didn't know what else to say to that. Thankfully, she didn't have to, for right then the door opened, allowing Darcy inside.

"Oh good, you're awake!" Darcy cried out with obvious relieved joy. "Clint just called me..."

"He's coming to pick us up so we can join AC and the others in New Mexico." Skye finished for her. "The program worked, they tracked Garrett, and we need to move in now."

"Right..." Darcy blinked in shock at that. "How did you know?"

"I talked to AC a few minutes ago." Skye answered honestly. "Astral projection."

"Right..." Even though she knew about her friend's power, she still wasn't used to them. "So I supposed you know already about FitzSimmons as well..."

"You need not worry about them, they're fine." Skye told her.

"You know where they are!" Darcy realized.

"I know, I found someone who could get them out of the bottom of the ocean and then managed to leave a message to an old friend to pick them up in Miami and get them to New Mexico, even paid them a visit to let them know before Leo did something insane and suicidal in an attempt to save Jemma..." Skye enlisted.

Darcy was still in shock by the whole thing. She knew the God of Thunder, had for years, she even knew she was technically under his protection! And yet, the idea of one of his best friends, whom she'd known for so many years to be as human as she... for that friend so suddenly have such power, to be... something else. It still shocked Darcy.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna take a shower before Clint arrives." Skye announced, taking her change of clothes and leaving for the bathroom.

In all the, rather odd, exchange, Darcy had completely forgotten to be afraid about the Winter Soldier. When Skye left the room, James was expecting the woman to snap at him, run away, or something, instead he saw her take a deep breath before she stared straight at him.

"I don't trust you." She stated straight out. "Though, seeing how I don't actually know you, that probably isn't surprising. However, I do know and trust Skye, and if she says you're alright I'm willing to give you a chance." She let out a breath before saying in an easier tone. "I imagine you'll want to take a shower yourself... There is another shower in this apartment and if you wait a little, there must be something from one of the boys that should fit you."

"Thank you..." James mumbled shyly.

He simply did not know what else to say. It was one thing for a girl like Natalia, who was being trained as an assassin herself, or for someone like Skye, all alone and living on the streets, to trust him... most would say they'd had no other choice. But for an intelligent, obviously strong, woman who, quite evidently knew who he was, what he had done, to trust him... he was being incredibly fortunate, he probably had been since he first met Skye... the more he thought about it, the more he thanked whatever instinct made him decide to save her that night. She had truly changed his life, and (he looked at the cuff on his arms, he knew instinctively what it meant) he had a feeling she would keep changing it for a very long time.

**xXx**

Skye got a call from Suki when she and the team were preparing to storm the Cybertek facility in New Mexico, hoping to end their problem with Garrett and Ward once and for all. The woman informed her that they were in Texas and would be in Santa Fe, New Mexico in a two or three hours (which made Skye stop and consider how fast they must have been traveling). The young woman thought she could actually hear Leo shouting imprecations against both Suki and her, though his accent had gotten so thick (probably with his fear) that it was impossible to understand most of what he was saying.

"Three hours?!" Trip blurted, slack jawed when he heard everything she had to say. "Weren't they in Miami just this morning?"

"Indeed." Skye couldn't help her own smirk as she at least half-explained. "Suki is a racer."

"Illegal street-racing." May was the first to understand. "You've been there."

"A few times." Skye nodded, unashamed. "At different points during my time in the system I got into the scene, either someone else in the family was a racer, or I began hanging out with people who were there. Never actually raced myself, didn't have the kind of money to get into it. But even just watching was good... and when we would run from the cops!"

"Is this the kind of conversation we should be listening to?" Clint teased her.

"Please..." Skye drawled. "Hanging out with racers and their bunnies is far, far low on the list of things that could get me in trouble with the law..."

The top of the list was actually a toss-up between the files faking connections she did not have to Stark Industries to get the full-scholarship in college, the mix of hacking and magic that made her identity of Astrid Avery an official SHIELD Agent (with people believing she'd been to the Academy and everything), and her heritage... it all depended on who you asked.

"It's good to know FitzSimmons are alright, and we'll be able to pick them up once this is all over." Phil declared, making everyone focus again. "Now we need to do our part. Everyone needs to be fully focused. We'll only get one shot at this, so let's go over the plan one more time to make sure we're clear on exactly what we're doing, okay? Trip, Clint, James and I will crest the ridge, use a noisemaker to grab a three-wheel, maybe something with more fireworks, and open a window for the girls." He turned to the other three. "You crawl in, grab the dealer, force his hand. He'll get us our ace in the hole, and..."

"Then Clint and Trip will make sure no one gets out, while you and James will go after Garrett." Skye continued, her attention fixed straight on Phil. "I will join you as soon as everything's under control with the dealer and the others, make sure none of them are liable to turning the tables on us. With their situations they shouldn't..."

"But it's still good to make sure." Phil finished for her.

"Roger that." Darcy and Clint called at the same time as they armed themselves.

"Makes it sound easy." Trip commented with a smile.

"Coulson, Skye, it's a solid plan you've mapped out, but it hinges on a gamble a big one." May couldn't help but be the one to remind them what was at stake.

"And backup isn't coming." Phil nodded.

Skye regretted that even with all the people with various abilities, sometimes even extraordinary abilities, that she met at one time or another, there just wasn't anyone she could call on for help. On the other hand, she'd been able to find help for FitzSimmons, that was something.

"It'll be just the seven of us." Phil went on. "We'll be outmanned and outgunned. But Fury always said a man can accomplish anything when he realizes he's a part of something bigger. A team of people who share that conviction can change the world. So, what do you say? You ready to change the world?"

Most of the people getting ready on the back of the small plane couldn't help but smile. Phil had always had the makings of a leader, the ability to motivate a group, make them believe the things he did, was no easy feat.

"No." May smirked as she cocked a gun. "I'm ready to kick some ass."

"That works, too." Phil agreed.

They all went to get ready for the landing then and, somehow, Phil and Skye ended alone. She was actually about to join Darcy, when AC stopped her.

"Skye..." He called softly, hesitantly.

"AC?" She turned to look at him over her shoulder in confusion. "Everything alright?"

"You..." He shook his head. "I..."

"You're not trying to get me to sit this one out, are you?" She asked, arching a brow as she turned fully to face him.

"No!" He shook his head. "I know better than that. I just... I know I cannot keep you from fighting, but I want you to be safe..."

Skye smiled softly at him before she got close enough and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"You cannot die." He said in a raspy voice, hugging her tightly. "You hear me?"

"Same goes to you." She replied with a nod. "No dying today."

She began pulling back and then, as if finding more bravery in him than he knew he was capable of, Phil pulled her back to him, kissing her full on the mouth. It was the first time he'd initiated one of their contacts, and Skye couldn't help but practically melt into it, into him.

Eventually they had to break the kiss to breathe, and even then it took Skye several seconds to fully regain her footing.

"We're having a long, serious conversation when this is all over." Phil announced in his most authoritative voice, breathless as he still was after the kiss.

"Roger that, AC." Skye answered cheekily.

She even went and stole one more quick kiss before forcing her body to pull away from him and turn to join the rest of the team. They had a job to do and a battle to win!

**xXx**

Things went pretty well for the first part. The men got a Humvee, opened a 'window' for the girls to get into the Manufacturing Facility, before attracting the attention of the Centipede Soldiers. May and Skye knocked guards out with an ICER before Darcy strolled right in, waving around a back-pack, supposedly filled with explosives. It was a ruse, the craziest one either of them had ever been a part of, but one the workers were sure to fall for.

"This is a bomb." Darcy announced flippantly as she waved the bag around. "You know what those do. You've seen Agent May here through the eyes of your super soldiers, so you know what she does; and even if you've never seen Agent Avery and myself... you would do well not to underestimate us..." She twirled in a show of craziness as she kept waving the supposed bomb around. "My point is, you don't want to mess with us."

"You're not gonna be able to hijack our soldiers." The dealer stated, trying to sound like someone who still had the control of the situation, even if he was the furthest from that. "We've thought through every emergency scenario, including this one."

"Don't tell me you just switched the soldiers to default directive." Skye drawled, arching a brow at the boss, her gun still ready.

"Yeah, I did." The man sound pretty satisfied with himself for a second, before he realized how wrong it was for the women to know that. "And how did you know about that?"

Unknown to everyone Skye was keeping an eye (so-to-speak) on the guys, with a mix of her 'remote viewing' and her connection to James. She knew when the soldiers went into their 'default directive', going to protect Garrett. Something AC and the Soldier took advantage of, following them, while Trip and Clint went to make sure Quinn and Raina wouldn't be able to escape, or anyone else who might be Hydra for that matter.

She also knew that was her cue to call Ward's attention, so without a word she took the dealer's phone and dialed:

"Hi, John." She called cheerily into the phone. "Just calling to catch up."

"Agent Astrid Avery..." He greeted her with what sounded half like surprise, half teasingly. "You sound different on the phone, huskier..."

"You curious why I'm calling from your soldier control center?" She challenged him, though still in a joking tone.

"No, I'm not too concerned." He replied unconcernedly. "You see, if anyone but the assigned handler gives a directive to one of my men... well, kaboom."

"Ah, darn it." She pretended to pout, as if they hadn't known that already, since they studied the first implanted eyes in fact. "Coulson didn't think of that. You outsmarted us again."

"Phil's around?" Garrett sounded hnestly glad by that. "Great. We actually have a lot to talk about." His voice turned almost sinister before he added. "Oh, and I wanted you to know your scientist friends they were brave until their last breath..."

"Ah... you mean FitzSimmons?" It wasn't part of the plan, but she just couldn't help herself. "I know how brave they are, though I'm sure Fitz will have all kind of inflated stories to make once they reached New Mexico in a couple of hours or so..."

"That's impossible." For the first time, Garrett was honestly surprised.

"Nothing is impossible for some of us." Skye said good-naturedly, before her voice turned to steel. "You have no idea who you've chosen to mess with."

With that, she hung up on him.

"I think that'll call his attention, alright." Darcy whistled in approval. "You certainly knew how to push his buttons girl."

"He was trying to push mine, telling me about FitzSimmons being 'brave to the end', the bastard." Skye hissed. "It was only fair." Her voice turned smoother in her satisfaction. "Now if Ward doesn't have the balls to come and get me on his own, Garrett will send him after me, to kill me just for angering him... men like him are so predictable."

"Sounds like you have previous experience." Darcy commented, a bit more worried than she wanted to appear in that moment.

"Some." Skye nodded calmly. "Never quite from this close, but still." She shook her head to return to the present. "Well, I must be going now."

With that the younger brunette slipped off her leather jacket, offering it to the older one, who had already pulled her hair into a tight ponytail.

"Are you ready for this?" Skye inquired.

"Completely." Darcy nodded, putting the jacket on. "You really think he'll mistake me for you? I mean, shouldn't he know you better?"

"When I first came back with the new identity he did not know me." Skye answered honestly. "Things haven't gotten much better since then. He refuses to see me as anything but the little, innocent, frightened girl he believes I was when he and AC first took me from my van in LA in September last year..."

"Little, innocent, frightened...?" Darcy parroted in disbelief. "Did he ever know you?!"

"Apparently not." Skye shrugged.

Without further ado, Skye turned her ponytail into a bun to prevent someone from using her long hair against her. Aside from that she was wearing a black skin-tight black thin-strapped top with equally tight black-leather leggings that disappeared into knee-high dark-leather boot. And over that she was wearing an off-the shoulder, long, loose sleeved dark-violet tunic that reached to the top of her thighs. Also, unknown to most she was wearing an aketon over the top, mithril-lined leather-and-mithril arm-guards under the sleeves of her tunic and finger-less dark leather gloves on her hands. She was also carrying her two handguns (one strapped to one thigh, the other on the small of her back) and half a dozen knives (both boots, her arm-guards, one of her thighs, and the longest one high on her back).

Every single Cybertek employee who happened to see Skye as she marched out of the offices and to meet with Phil and James couldn't help but gape at her; a reaction caused not only by her attire or the number of weapons she carried, but also for the way she carried herself. She was a Warrior Princess, and she knew it, and even those who didn't couldn't help but sense the power and the authority that laid inside her, and react to it.

Once Skye was gone Darcy adjusted the leather jacket a bit on her, Skye had a slimmer frame, so the jacket wasn't exactly a perfect fir, but it did not matter. Aside from that Darcy was wearing black jeans, low boots and a long sleeved dark-blue shirt.

"What are you people doing?" The dealer asked, in obvious confusion.

Darcy chose to ignore his question completely, taking a deep breath before getting back into character, she still had a part to play.

"I have to hit 'snooze' on this every minute to keep that from blowing." She announced in a non-chalant tone as she waved her phone around (which Skye had given to her, and its real use was so to keep a channel to Deathlok open for when the right moment came to use it) with one hand while signaling to the pack she and Skye had taped to the man (right after they secured him to the swiveling chair he'd been sitting on.

"Look, I will die before talking, but there's nothing to tell." He insisted. "There's no way of controlling the soldiers unless there's an actual handler at the machine."

"I'm not interested in that." Darcy surprised him with that statement. "I'm more interested in why you're willing to die for Hydra." She pulled back a bit. "Are you a true believer? Is Hydra the plucky little family you never had? Or are you here because of the Incentives program?"

The last part of the question only shocked the dealer more, but before she could push him further they were interrupted... pretty much as expected.

"She's not gonna kill you." Ward stated confidently as he entered the office. "She had a chance to kill me before and couldn't do it. And she hates me a lot."

"Me?" Darcy asked innocently as she spun around. "Oh, I think you have the wrong girl here, former Agent Grant Ward..."

"You're not Astrid..." He mumbled, freezing in shock.

"Really, I hadn't noticed..." She drawled, taking great pleasure in his reaction. "You know, I didn't actually believe her when she said that a ponytail and this jacket would be enough to make you think I was her, I mean, we look nothing alike!" She turned to the dealer. "Do you think we look anything alike?"

She wasn't actually expecting an answer, but by the expression of disbelief in the man's face, it was obvious he was as surprised as her by Ward's mistake. Really, Darcy had heard once that a lot of people sometimes could look the same from behind if they were wearing similar-enough attires, but it was ridiculous!

"I cannot believe because of you I'm losing the bet." Darcy muttered, annoyed.

They really had bet on whether Ward would recognize her (or at least that it wasn't Skye), the older woman hadn't thought he would be that bad. He claimed to be in love with Skye right?! How could he be in love with a girl when he couldn't even differentiate her from another simply because they were both brunettes and wearing a leather jacket?

"Who are you anyway?" Ward demanded, doing his best to push his confusion aside.

"Darcy Lewis S... and that's pretty much all you need to know on that front." Darcy told him in a flippant tone. "Agent is an old friend of mine, from the last time I was here in New Mexico, actually! After SHIELD sank... well, you can say that we are the kind of family that closes ranks when the situation gets tough, rather than running away or choosing the other side... unlike some people I could name."

"You have no idea what you're talking about." Ward said in his most condescending tone.

"Please!" Darcy snorted. "If anyone is out of their depth here it's you." She shook her head. "But you know what, I'm not actually angry at you. No, I pity you. I feel sorry for you betraying the only people who gave you a chance at being a decent human being. Fitz... I haven't known that boy long, but he was a hero like you'll never be. Wanna know why? Because he still wanted to give you that chance, after everything... he still believed in you. You did not deserve that belief. And you proved that when you threw him and Simmons into the ocean."

"Skye said they were alright..." Ward mumbled.

"Of course!" Darcy retorted. "No thanks to you!" She shook her head. "Never thought I would say this, especially with the kind of people I've met in my life that made me think the exact opposite but... but maybe some people really are just born evil..."

"Yeah." Ward agreed. "Yeah, maybe they are." He stlked towards Darcy. "If you knew the things I know about... Astrid." He tried and failed to say her real name out-loud. "She and I aren't that different, you know?"

"You're not the evil I was referring to." Darcy pointed out with a smirk. "Though, if the shoe fits and all that I suppose..." She chuckled. "No, I was talking about John Garrett, he is evil. You... you're just weak, doing anything you're told, like a good little slave... Astrid had it right when she called you 'Traitor and Coward'." She paused briefly before continuing. "I wonder... if Garrett told you to walk into traffic, or to go and jump off a bridge, would you do it? I bet you would. I mean, you already joined an insane, psychotic, Nazi organization that intended to kill 20 million people just because!"

"You are right... there is a weakness inside me." Ward declared darkly. "A weakness your friend awoke in me. For the first time in a while, I wanted something for myself... Maybe I'll just take what I want... maybe I'll even wake up something inside of her. Where is she?"

"She's not afraid of you Ward, and neither am I." Darcy declared, approaching him. "And about where she is... that's none of your business. Lets just say, she has bigger fish to fry. You are such a nobody, she need not bother with you."

That proved to be a bit too much for Ward, who threw a punch at Darcy, not that it did much good, as she moved to a side to evade it before kneeing him in the stomach; then she jumped back a few feet to get away from his range.

"You cannot take me on, Lewis." Ward stated with obvious satisfaction. "Whatever connection you might have to SHIELD, it's obvious you're not a field Agent, whereas I'm a specialist. I can take you down, easily."

"Oh you are so wrong..." Darcy drawled. "My connections to SHIELD are irrelevant. If you knew who trained me you wouldn't be so egocentric as to believe you can take me." She snorted. "But as much as I would like to take you down, fast and hard, I did agree you were all hers..."

"Hers?" Ward wasn't expecting that. "Who?"

"Yeah." Darcy smiled predatory at him. "You ever heard the saying: 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? Well, you're gonna experience that saying first hand..."

That was the cue, and before Ward could look any more stupid in his ignorance, a well-aimed kick from Melinda May threw him several feet away, and then their fight began.

The dealer was still watching the whole thing in a mix of confusion and shock when Darcy took a hold of him and began hauling him with her.

"You and I." She announced as they left the office by a different door. "We are gonna have a little talk about Incentives..."

**xXx**

Phil wasn't fully sure what surprised John most, the fact that Phil's punch was enough to make the other man stumble, or how fast Phil got up after Garrett returned the punch.

"I can see you have finally woken to the power inside you Phil..." Garrett declared in what sounded like an approving tone.

"You will never be able to understand what I've woken inside me, John." Phil replied.

"But of course I do!" John insisted. "We are the same Phil! Blood brothers The same power now runs through our veins..."

Phil shook his head but did not insist, he knew there was no way John could ever understand, Phil himself hadn't understood until very recently, when the last piece of his lost memory returned to him, the one that held all the answers, that connected his old life, with his new one:

_Phil, a very different Phil than the one anyone might have known during his lifetime, but Phillip Coulson nonetheless, paced in a side of the majestic room that seemed to be paneled in the most exotic woods, precious metals and jewels decorating all around. There was a huge table on one side of the room, filled with all kinds of foods, the most delicious dishes from every world, every time, and all around the most beautiful women in the universe attended to those present. They were the Warriors, the Heroes, those who had done a feat so great in life, and who had died in battle, that their reward was to be there, in Valhala._

_Phil was there, dressed in finery like nothing he had ever seen on Earth, styles and quality like he could have never been able to afford. But he cared little about that, about any of it. The clothes, the food, wine, even the women, they were of no relevance as far as he was concerned. More than once he'd been congratulated on being the first human in hundreds of years to achieve such an honor as reaching Valhala, but none of those who congratulated him understood that, for him, being there was not a reward, but a punishment, a curse. He had failed. His boss, his friend, had ordered him to stay, and he had been unable to do it, just like he'd been unable to stop the alien sociopathic sorcerer who had taken control over a number of his men, including someone Phil considered as precious as family._

_Phil didn't even know for sure how long he'd been there. It was like time had somehow lost its meaning... or as if it changed somehow. There were moments when he was sure he'd been there for years, and others when he didn't think it could have been more than a day or two. It was way too confusing, especially for a man who had mostly lead a simple life._

_Even working for SHIELD, some things had always been clear for him. He might not have been a very religious man, but he was pretty confident on what could be, and could not... even with insane things happening like Dr. Banner becoming a strange creature after a failed attempt at recreating the super-soldier serum, or Stark with his crazy flying eyesore of a metal suit. Then he'd been sent to New Mexico to supervise an operation, found what looked like a hammer, embedded in the sand, impossible for anyone to move... and then he'd witnessed someone (looked like a man, claimed to be a god) wielding it against a metallic monster at least three stories tall, capable of shooting fire from its helm!_

_Then, as if that hadn't been enough to shake anyone. Yet another so-called god, the warning that an alien invasion was coming, and he died only to end up in Valhala!_

_Phil had, therefore, no idea how long he'd been there when the woman approached him. She called his attention straight away, it was quite obvious she wasn't one of the Valkiries, she wasn't there to tend to the Warrior's needs, was one herself... and yet she was still different... more. He could see it in the way she carried herself, in the beautiful turquoise dress with the elegant armor on top. The woman was a Warrior, but she was also more than that, and she knew it._

" _Are you not enjoying the celebrations, warrior?" She asked, standing beside him._

_Phil took the glass of wine she offered him, if only to be polite, but once the question was asked, he couldn't help the honesty of his answer:_

" _I find little cause for celebration." He declared. "I am dead..."_

" _Indeed." She nodded. "And you perished doing such a deed, the Fates have seen fit to grant you as a recompense, entrance into Valhala..."_

" _Something that hadn't been granted to a human in centuries, I know, I've heard." Phil cut her off, almost annoyed. "I've heard it from many mouths in the time I've been here, however long or short it might have been. And while I know I should be honored... I can only see this as a curse. A reminder of the fact that I died, that I let people down, behind... I wasn't ready to go!"_

" _Hardly anyone who dies is ready for it." The woman pointed out. "And even less truly deserve it. You are one such case, I believe."_

" _Not like it changes anything." Phil snorted._

" _Perhaps it may..."_

_Phil had no idea what she meant, but it was in that moment that he seemed to realize he hadn't the slightest idea who she was, and how rude it was that he hadn't even tried to introduce himself or even greet the woman properly, she wasn't as annoying as some of the others... and it never hurt to be polite._

" _My apologies if I've offended you my lady." He declared respectfully. "But if you wish to enjoy your time here, I'm afraid I'm not the best of company. Ah! And my name is..."_

" _Phillip James, Son of Coul, I know." She finished for him._

_The particular way in which she recited his name gave away her origins, and the fact that she knew anything about him began giving him an idea; though a part of him was sure there was no possible way it could be..._

" _I am Frigga, wife of Odin Allfather, mother of Thor and Loki, once Queen of Asgard."_

_Except it not only could be, it somehow was. The lady before him, to whom he'd been so bitterly complaining about his death, was the queen of the gods._

" _My apologies my lady, if my comments have offended you in any way." He declared, adding a quick but deep bow to his words._

" _Worry not, Son of Coul, you were just being honest, I find no fault in that." She assured him. "I truly do understand that sometimes one may not wish to depart the living just yet... even when one knows its for the best, even... especially for those being left behind..."_

_The former Agent of SHIELD wondered if she spoke from experience, it sounded like it, but he dare not ask._

" _I did not imagine to see you here, my lady." He commented next. "Are you visiting someone?"_

_He'd read such a thing was possible, if only for the king and queen of Asgard, though it did not happen often (if ever it had)._

" _I am as much a resident of this realm as you are, Son of Coul." She told him honestly._

_Phil wondered what exactly had happened, how and when things had gotten so bad; his mind couldn't comprehend a situation, short from the end of the world, that might explain a woman such as the queen of the gods dying in battle..._

" _Some things have happened, and some have yet to." Frigga declared cryptically. "As your sharp mind may have noticed already, time is of little consequence in a realm like Valhala. We exist outside of the known universe, of what is called the Nine Realms, in a separate dimension. There is one exception, though, the Convergence, when the walls separating the realms become so thin... like a semi-translucent curtain, or smoke even. And while the main event, the full connection, lasts barely a few hours, hours the time matters the same to everyone, and instead it is space that loses its significance, making travel between the 9 Realms very easy, and between dimensions... at least a little less complicated... There is another part to it. The Convergence is so huge, it takes months for every realm to settle into its rightful place, and during those months smaller connections are made, between Realms, and even between dimensions sometimes..."_

" _Why are you telling me this?" Phil asked, hesitantly._

_He didn't think he understood, a small, the smallest glimmer of hope was beginning to grow inside him, but he refused to allow it to flourish until he knew for sure he and the queen were on the same page, otherwise there was no point._

" _Do you know what an Eihenjar is?"_

Phil pulled himself out of his memory right as John signaled half a dozen Centipede soldiers at him. He did not even bother raising his guard, there was no need, for right as they began moving two figures jumped on them, one on each side of Phil. They were James and Skye. The pseudo-super-soldiers were down in a matter of seconds.

"Damn man!" James muttered. "That wasn't even good for a warm-up." He pushed one of the fallen men with a foot in disdain. "Is this really what they're calling super-soldiers nowadays? Because if it is I'm so disappointed..."

"You may be a bit biased on that front James." Skye pointed out.

"Or very biased..." James corrected with a smirk. "Of course, no one could ever compare with my good man Steve!"

Phil was about to say something to stop their theatrics (funny as they might be, especially with how they seemed to unnerve John), he hadn't been around the two of them together for long, but it had already become obvious that they seemed to enjoy greatly teasing each other and playing games of oneupmanship (either fighting or making jokes, sometimes silly, incongruous, even outrageous ones). However, before he could speak, John did:

"What the he... you're the Winter Soldier!" He called to James. "You're Hydra, what are you doing with SHIELD?"

"Hydra might have enslaved me for the last... too many years, but I'm my own man again now." James announced with obvious satisfaction. "Thanks to my girl here." He signaled to Skye. "Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, friends call me Bucky... though of course you're no friend of mine! Ready to serve my country... and since right now that means kicking Hydra asses to kingdom come, I can say I'm greatly enjoying my job right now!"

"What the hell is going on here?!" Garrett demanded. "You're supposed to be on our side?"

"Is he deaf or just slow?" James asked Skye in a conspiratorial manner, though loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Furious, Garret pulled out his gun, shooting at the pair several times. Skye managed to evade two bullets, and before the third could hit her James was there, using his metallic arm to deflect it (he too had dodged a few shots). When he was about to fire the seventh shot, a bullet went through his own hand, forcing him to drop his gun in the process. The wound itself healed fairly quickly, as did the half dozen caused by more shots fired by Phil as he forced Garrett to back away from James and Skye.

"I am your opponent John." Phil stated as he dropped his gun, knowing it would be useless for that confrontation. "So, if you're so sure of yourself. Fight me!"

"But I don't want to fight you Phil!" Garrett insisted as he straightened up again. "I told you already. I don't understand why you're even trying to stop me. We should be on the same side. We're the same!" His eyes were wide, pupils dilated, looking as crazy as he sounded. "You must have seen the big picture, the big bang, the timeless frozen ocean... everything is connected, you and I know it. And through this connection, we've become something greater..." He let out an almost maniacal cackle. "It's like that speech Nick liked so much to give, about how one man can accomplish anything once he realizes he can be something bigger... Well, now I am!"

"A part of something bigger!" Phil corrected with a snap.

"Did he go all cucko because he misunderstood a speech spirits-know how long ago?" Skye asked in absolute disbelief.

"I think he was already insane." James offered. "I mean, only insane people join Hydra... or, you know, those that are being put through electro-shocks and frozen every so often!"

"I'm the origin of all things..." Garrett went on.

"Can we put him down now?" Skye asked to Phil. "Because he really is missing more than a few screws and I really, really hope insanity isn't contagious!"

Phil rolled his eyes but did not answer, instead focusing on John. He had considered making the fight more physical, but his 'old friend' seemed to have no interest in such a thing, so Phil decided to hold back, thinking it might be best not to reveal everything about himself until they had no other choice, after all, he was quite sure that if he really tried he would be stronger than even Garrett, but that wasn't something the traitor needed to know.

"You may have been able to take down the other soldiers, but they were just incomplete versions of us, the real soldiers." He signaled to Mr. Peterson and himself. "You will not be able to take down a real Deathlok as easily."

"We are not here to take Mr. Peterson down, only you." Skye informed him matter-of-factly.

"That's not going to stop him from taking you down." Garrett pointed out, almost with glee.

At a signal from him Mike raised an arm, weapon at the ready, aiming at Skye, who did not even flinch, standing tall and proud.

"You seem strangely unafraid Miss Avery..." John Garrett commented, trying his best to sound confident, though Astrid's nonchalance unnerved him.

"Oh, that's because I have nothing to fear." Skye said unconcernedly, before turning to look straight at Mike. "We're on the same side, Mike."

Only Skye noticed the minute change in the way Mike stood, right then; she could only hope it meant that Darcy had suceeded with her side of the mission: she had gotten the 'Ace in the hole', and notified Mike of that fact...

Her hopes, and pretty much the final success of their insane plan were proved when Mike changed targets, firing on Garrett before he even had a chance to try and stop him.

The attack blew Garrett back several feet, making him crash against a wall; there were also several severe burns on what skin could be seen.

"You can't do this, Mike." He called, trying to sound authoritative and only managing to sound increasingly desperate. "I order you to stand down! You must obey me! You need me to translate the words of creation..."

His words were useless, and Mike kept moving against him, while the other three did nothing to stop the man, help Garrett, or anything really.

"You don't want to do this, Mike." Garrett turned to his friend for mercy. "Tell him, Phil! Tell him to have mercy on me!"

"Mercy?" Skye and James snorted at the same time.

"The same mercy you took on Skye when you ordered Ian Quinn to shoot her in the stomach, twice, all so you could gain access to a highly classified drug?" Phil challenged in a freezing tone. "All because you were a coward, afraid to face your own mortality, your death..."

"You say that, but you are here as well Phil." Garrett still tried to convince him. "You were returned to life as well!"

"I wasn't afraid to die!" Phil snapped back. "When I went against Loki on the helicarrier, I knew how that confrontation was most likely to end, but I did so anyway, because someone had to, and I was willing to die to protect the innocents, like we all swore to do when we joined SHIELD. But that is something you never understood, and never will, because it's impossible for you to think on anyone other than yourself."

"It's also why you don't know the meaning of words like loyalty, compassion, or mercy..." Skye added. "So how can you ask for a thing you don't truly know?"

"Hydra doesn't know the meaning of those words, at all." James hissed.

"Mr. Peterson's free to do whatever he wants." Phil added for good measure.

One more hit was really al it took, John Garrett, the original Deathlok, wasn't getting up again, or at least that was what they all hoped.

**xXx**

Things went relatively easy after that. Darcy had released all the prisoners of the 'Incentives Program', which immediately turned most Cybertek workers to their side. With their help it was easy to round the remaining Centipede Soldiers without risk, as the dealer gave them orders not to attack, and eventually the effects of the latest dose of drugs would run out; once the implants were taken they would be just men (and most of them were innocent too!). Darcy closed her participation releasing the high-ranking soldiers that Ward had locked up after Garrett murdered a seventh; then, making use of everything she had learnt in Poli-Sci she was able to convince the men that she and her team were SHIELD, and still the good guys, taking down all who were Hydra (hopefully that would make things easier with future missions, which she just knew there would be, no matter what anyone else had said before). Clint and Trip arrived shortly afterwards with an unconscious Raina and a slightly-beat-up Quinn, who had tried, and failed, to escape. May took Ward in, with some injuries and a broken larynx. Phil spoke to the military after Darcy had, making sure to confirm everything and supervise the end of the mission.

Meanwhile, James and Skye watched Mike Peterson walked away. Skye had tried to convince the man to stay, to go to his son, but he refused, stating he needed to make amends, for his son if not for himself. James understood.

"You don't have to stay either, you know?" Skye told her old friend quietly after Mike had vanished among the trees.

"Yes I do." He insisted, lightly fingering his cuff.

"That won't stop working if you leave my side." She insisted. "We might be connected because of what I did to save you, but you are not my slave James..."

"I know." He assured her. "I actually considered leaving, after this mission was over."

"But..." She really didn't understand.

"You're going after Hydra, more of Hydra I mean." James explained. "I know that. What better way to make amends than to help bring down those who used me for so many years? Besides, who knows? Maybe when all my memories finish sorting out themselves I'll even have some more information on targets and such to contribute..."

He had so many memories, after so many years; but even after the things Skye had done to help save him, most of those memories were scrambled, in the wrong order, some pieces mixed up. It would take a while for him to be able to recall everything the right way; hopefully when he did those memories would actually help, bring something good, rather than just the memories of every person he'd killed for Hydra.

Having solved that matter the pair returned to the main building, where the team was finishing the last details. May and Phil were just about to surrender Ward to the military, waiting just outside, he would be the last prisoner to be taken (they already had Quinn and Raina, along with a reliable list of their crimes), all that was left with them in the room was John Garrett's corpse, which had been placed inside a white box for transportation.

"Well... it seems like we actually missed the party." It was none other than Nick Fury.

Everyone was so shocked by Fury's appearance no one said a word, not even when Maria Hill and Victoria Hand (looking a little worse for wear, but still standing tall and proud) followed him into the room.

"Really." Nick went on dramatically. "I cross the country from one end to the other, looking for you, to make sure you haven't gotten yourself killed... again... and this is what I find?"

"One would almost say you were expecting me to die without your help Nick." Phil drawled, before his voice turned cold. "And talking about dying... we need to have a very, very serious conversation about that... about TAHITI..."

"I know we do." Nick admitted. "And you have the right to say whatever is on your mind... but right now I'm more interested in how you handled everything around here."

Phil's mind, as well as May's, were working a mile a minute. They knew how huge it was that the team had managed to do everything with no other back-up, and they also had a pretty good idea of how Fury was going to react to the backup they had... they never got the chance to make any plans to stop Fury from discovering everything though, as they could all hear Skye's enthusiastic voice right then as she entered from behind them.

"It's done AC!" She called brightly. "All Centipede soldiers are on their way to getting detox, our military friends can then root out the truly bad ones from those who were just blackmailed and threatened into joining the program. Mike's gone now, but he says he just wants to help... I will keep trying to convince him to go back to his son, maybe one day it'll work, hopefully... James says he wants to stick around, help us kick some more Hydra asses and..."

Her tirade cut-off abruptly when she finally laid eyes on the people in the room, especially the Director (or was it former Director) of SHIELD and the two women behind him. She was still trying to process what their presence their might mean when she became aware of the change in their body-language, and the tension coming from beside her gave the reason right away. Skye didn't even stop to think about it, she simply reacted, pulling her electric gun and black knife from the holsters on her thighs before swiftly moving to cover her old friend.

Twin shots came from the women behind Fury (ICERS, thankfully), one which she deflected with the blade of her knife, the other she caught on her forearm, the armguard beneath her sleeve protecting her from the dendrotoxin. Fury had just raised his own gun (with actual bullets) when it was shot straight out of his hand by none other than Phil himself.

"Nobody move!" He ordered in his strongest voice.

And if that hadn't been enough to shock the new arrivals, the way the team closed ranks around Skye and James, certainly did.

"You cannot be protecting..." Maria Hill cut herself off in disbelief. "The Winter Soldier is an assassin! A menace!"

"That might be, but James Buchanan Barnes is a hero, and deserves to be helped." Phil replied.

"Not this again..." Victoria grunted. "First you help that disrespectful brat from the Rising Tide, and now you're helping known Hydra members?"

"Everyone deserves a second chance." Phil tried to reason with them.

"The Captain tried that, almost got himself killed." Fury pointed out, trying to make the memory of his old hero make Phil reconsider.

"Yet he survived." Phil pointed out.

"How do you...?" No one expected him, them, to know that yet.

"Did he tell you who it was that 'fished' him out of the water?" Phil went on, before stopping to ponder on the matter a little and turning slightly to James. "Does he even know?"

"He knows, or suspects at least..." James answered honestly. "I'm not quite sure. After what happened in that helicarrier I didn't dare go looking for him; wasn't sure how I might act, what his presence or his words might end up triggering. I knew I had to leave before I lost control completely. It was then that I decided to find the Little Cloud."

"Please!" Hill called in disbelief. "You cannot tell me you believe that."

"The man is an assassin, a danger to the whole world." Victoria began in a rather vicious tone. "All the people he has killed."

"Are all the people Hydra made him kill!" Skye called, voice rising over Victoria, making her stop. "It's not James's fault that Hydra infiltrated SHIELD and none of you noticed, or that that bastard Alexander Pierce was a worse monster than the one who created Frankenstein..."

"What do you even know about any of this, Avery?" Both women demanded at the same time.

"Astrid..." Phil murmured quietly, warningly.

She could sense by his tone and his stance that he wasn't against her words, he just wanted her to be careful, not to put herself at risk. And yet, Skye couldn't help but think maybe it was time she did exactly that. She had taken a moment when she was walking by Ward to use a bit of magic and... sort of scratch him from her 'trusted family' list, which automatically activated the magical protection from her father, making him forget anything Grant Ward might have ever known about her true heritage, her parents, her powers. And in any case, Phil had been standing up for her for months, since he first decided to give her a chance to join the team, maybe it was time she stood up for him as well...

"I know everything about this." She announced as she stepped out of the protective circle of her team, her family. "More than any of you do, I would bet."

"And how would that be?" Fury asked, honestly curious.

"Because while you may know me as Agent Astrid Avery... that's not all I am, that's not all I've been..." Letting out a breath she let her hair down and pulled her sunglasses off at the same time she dropped just enough of the spell for those who had met her before to recognize her (and to make them believe that had been her disguise). "I know all about AC... Agent Coulson's second chances, because he gave me one..." She fixed her eyes straight on Hand. "You hated me on sight when we first met, you even did everything you could to kick me off the team. But that's alright, you had more than enough reason to doubt me. I would hope my attempts to keep you safe recently would have shown you there is more to me than the Rising Tide hacker that got into your systems. And really, most of the time I did that wasn't even to hurt you!"

"For all we knew you could have been Hydra." Hand defended her actions, even as she couldn't help but touch her strapped ribs.

"But I wasn't." Skye replied calmly.

No she wasn't, and in that moment Victoria Hand knew, with a clarity she'd never experienced before, that if it hadn't been for her, for that girl she'd so pushed down, she wouldn't be alive in that moment. The Senior Agent owed her life to a girl she had never given a chance... who had saved her (and not just her), who had even been there at all, because one day Phil Coulson thought to give her a chance...

"You are the consultant Skye?" Fury wanted to clarify.

"I am." The blue-eyed nodded.

"You were reported dead on December." Fury eyed Phil and the rest of the team suspiciously. "And then you came back, with a brand new name... and the files claim you even went to the Academy! Agent Astrid Avery..."

"Yeah well, SHIELD has never exactly had a reliable tech team..." Darcy snorted from behind. "Remember how... Tony keeps hacking you all the time?"

"And you were too busy going off-grid to pay attention to what was going on." Clint added for good measure. "Never there when you were needed."

He remembered what Phil had told him, about desperately trying to locate Fury when Skye was shot, only to be told he was off-grid. And that hadn't been the only time even!

"Going back to the dead girl being alive." Fury commented.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time, would it?" Phil declared flippantly. "It would have been as easy as sending her to TAHITI for some R&R, wouldn't it?"

Maria Hill actually flinched at that, but Nick's eyes only narrowed, he wasn't giving up that easily. The only one who didn't seem to understand, at all, was Victoria Hand.

"You would never do that." Fury stated after what seemed like forever, completely confident of his assessment.

"No, I wouldn't." Phil agreed as he stood beside Skye. "Which was kind of the point, actually."

"He didn't need to." Skye declared, deciding to give just a little more, as much as Maria Hill already knew. "I manifested." She opened her left palm, making the knife float and twirl over it.

"Telekinetic..." Hand murmured in disbelief. "But I thought psychics were not real..."

"Yeah... not quite." With a wave of her hand Skye sent both of her weapons to their sheaths.

"Show-off..." Darcy and Clint snorted from behind her.

"That's not all you can do." Hill pointed out.

"No, it's not." Skye admitted, but did not volunteer more. "We don't know what all I can do. But a part of that included allowing me to survive after Ian Quinn shot me in Italy. It took hours for me to recover enough to even wake up, but I did. Still, it wasn't like we could explain my recovery..."

"There was also the fact that a preliminary interrogation of Quinn had revealed that he had shot Skye on orders from the Clairvoyant, whom we now know was John Garrett." May offered from behind them. "It was believed that Phil would never let a member of his team die, and to save them he would find out how he was saved, and use that to save Skye..."

"We only came to realize that later on." Phil added. "After Nash was killed, when Skye and I realized that the Clairvoyant wasn't psychic at all, he was a SHIELD Agent with high security clearance." His expression turned to stone as he looked at Nick and added. "He planned that move, shooting Skye, to find out how I survived since you didn't leave any trace of what you did. Not that it would have ever been enough for him..."

"He still found a way to replicate the drug." Hand pointed out, as she signaled to the white box that contained Garrett's corpse.

"That wasn't on us." Trip defended the team.

"No, it wasn't." Fury agreed. "That still does not explain how the Winter Soldier fits in all this."

"Not the Winter Soldier, James." Phil clarified.

"He's an old friend of mine." Skye decided to go with the truth. "Met him when I was seventeen, living on the streets after running away from my last foster family. He saved me one night, taught me to protect myself. After a month he was given the order to kill me, we'd become too close, and I was a liability. He refused to do it. I convinced him to run..." She shook her head. "It was a fool's errand, but we still tried. We went for the Canadian border, never made it through. We were found. James sent me away before the men after him caught us. I ended in a river and eventually somewhere in North New York, from where I kept moving." She shook her head, there was no need to give everyone her 'sob story'. "A few days ago he left me a coded message. He needed my help. We met, I managed to help him through his triggers and mental breakdowns, and then he decided to stay and help us bring Hydra down."

It was probably a rather insane way of summarizing everything that had happened, but it wasn't like they needed to know the rest.

"He's not Hydra anymore." Skye stated in her strongest voice, her eyes staring straight into where she knew Fury's were, despite the sunglasses he wore. "He only stayed because he wanted to help, help me, because we're friends. I won't let you hurt him for what Hydra made him do!"

Fury didn't respond to that, instead he just observed. He could see the way everyone in the team backed up the young woman's stance, agreed with her words, the way they all protected the man they should have been cowering from. It confirmed two things as far as Nick was concerned: he would never understand that team, and he was getting way too old to deal with the insanity Phil seemed to create everywhere he went! It had begun with Tony Stark's 'I am Iron-Man', continued with a hammer of all things falling from the sky, and it obviously hadn't ended with his death! It also confirmed Nick that he was making the right choice, all that was left wa to inform Phil of it... and listen to him rant about Project TAHITI.

"You do realize that the Captain will come looking for his friend sooner or later, right?" He asked eventually, looking at all of them.

"I know." Skye agreed. "Friends and family are always welcome."

They were, on both fronts, and they were no longer just a team, they hadn't been for a long while. It made Grant Ward (waiting in the back, watching the team, what had once been his team, defend a man so intensely...) wonder, if only briefly, what his life would be like if he had chosen a different path. Would they have defended him with the same passion? Would Skye have given him a chance? Probably no to the second, he could see there was something in the way she and Phil stood together, like they were equals, despite the huge differences in their pasts and their experiences. Still, a part of him couldn't help but believe (maybe hope) they would have defended him, if he'd just given them the chance. If he'd chosen them.

Grant Ward stood by John Garrett because the man had once saved his life, given him a new one. At a time when Ward was so sure his life had ended, that he had no future, no hope... and what had that given him? Maybe for a while it had seemed worth it. Truth be told, until he met Agent Coulson and the team he formed he never imagined a different choice, never until he met Skye did he imagine someone being more important than his almost-father... For a time he could almost forget that the life he was living wasn't real, that one day he would have to give it all up, betray them all. He knew he could have gone to Phil, the man would have given him a chance. Hadn't he seen him do that before? For Skye, Dr. Franklin Hall, Akela Amador... Grant was sure there had been others, even if he couldn't actually remember them. Yes, Coulson would have given him a chance... but it was too late to think about that. He had made his choices, and the consequences were right there. He was standing alone, waiting to be taken in for interrogation, and then imprisonment. He couldn't help but wonder if that had been his destiny all along, since he set fire on the house with his big brother still inside when he was sixteen...

**xXx**

After the rather tense stand-off, other decisions were much easier to make. The group decided to go to the old SHIELD facility in New Mexico (abandoned since Dr. Jane Foster had gone to England the late the previous year), it was actually where the Bus was parked, and where Suki was dropping FitzSimmons off; though she wasn't told anything about SHIELD, only that it was important and classified (she apparently had previous experience with that).

Right as they had been about to leave the Cybertek facilities Hand had insisted that there was no need to keep Garrett's body; it could even be dangerous, considering all the experiments he'd been through, the drugs that ran in his veins, what if Hydra recovered the body and found out something to use against SHIELD or humanity as a whole? So, by popular decision, they'd burnt the body before leaving.

Finally, the so-awaited conversation between Phil and Fury had somehow ended up including everyone; or at least with everyone as witnesses. No one said a word to question it, they simply stayed where they were.

Phil didn't wait long to begin his tirade, he actually started almost as soon as everyone stopped moving (either sitting down or just out of the way):

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, and cruel, and very stupid!" He practically snapped.

Skye felt like laughing (and she was almost completely sure she wasn't the only one), but she didn't dare to, not because of Phil, as she was sure he wouldn't mind (he probably was expecting it, to a point), but Nick Fury was a whole other matter.

"I think you've made your point." Fury muttered dryly.

"Why bring me back in the first place?" Phil asked, he of course knew the other side of things, but he still needed to ask. "Clearly, I didn't think it was the best idea. I warned you about people losing their minds."

He really worried about that, even with Lady Frigga helping him, what if it hadn't been enough? Just considering everything he had forgotten...

"Agent May was on top of the situation." Fury answered promptly.

May nodded from her spot against a wall.

"She says you're fine." Fury went on, then added, almost as a challenge. "Aren't you?" He shook his head. "It was a 'break glass in case of emergency' situation."

"Yes, but that emergency was supposed to be the fall of an Avenger." Phil insisted.

"Exactly."

The moment the word left Nick's lips Skye couldn't help the smile from blossoming; and she could see the reaction mimicked by practically every single person present. From the first day she (all of them, really) met him she had known he was a great man, one of a kind... it made her happy that others realized the same, especially someone who Phil held in such high esteem, and that he was willing to go to such lengths to bring him back...

"And I'm damn glad I did it, too." Fury added. "When you want to build something, you need a strong foundation." He lent forward on the chair he'd commandeered, staring straight at Phil through his eyeglasses. "Now, you know how few people I trust, Coulson."

"You can count them on one hand." Phil answered almost automatically.

"And I'm not afraid to cut off fingers." Fury reminded him. "The principle S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded upon was pure..."

"Protection." Several of those present finished almost automatically.

"Protection, one word." Fury agreed, nodding at everyone. "Sometimes, to protect one man from himself, other times, to protect the planet against an alien invasion from another universe..." There was a snort from someone, but Fury ignored it. "It's a broad job description."

"No need to tell me." Phil really didn't need him to, he knew enough, more than Nick would ever be able to realize, in fact.

"But the belief that drives us all is the same, whether it's one man or all mankind." Fury went on.

"That they're worth saving." Once again the end of the statement came from several voices around the room at the same time.

"That truth lives inside you, Coulson." Fury stated in an almost solemn tone. "Before it was torn apart, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a lot of moving parts. Guys like you were the heart..." The man got on his feet at the same time he pulled a small black cube out of his jacket, offering it to Phil. "Now you'll be the head..."

Skye froze, and she wasn't the only one. Suddenly it made perfect sense for them all to be present for that 'conversation'. It had never been about Phil's 'revival', no, it was about his promotion...

The clapping, whistles and congratulations didn't wait. Everyone seemed to be delighted by the prospect of, not only SHIELD rising again, but Phil leading it. When the man actually turned to look around, searching for their reactions, they each nodded, they would be delighted to follow him, to become part of the new SHIELD...

And that reminded SHIELD of the little box in his hand...

"What is it?" He asked Nick.

"A toolbox to help you build it back up." Fury answered.

"You want me to start over, rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D from scratch..." Phil still seemed quite shocked at the whole idea.

"Take your time and do it right." Fury recommended. "And I'm sure everyone present will do their best to have your back, aid you as best they can."

All kind of nods and affirmative responses were heard around the room; there had never been a doubt about it.

"There's no one else I trust with this." Fury assured Phil.

"Thank you, sir." Phil couldn't help but straighten up in pride. "How do you..." He corrected himself. "How should I proceed?"

"That's up to you Director." Fury stated with a smirk before turning to leave.

"And you, sir where are you heading now?" May called as the ramp was opened for his exit.

"Well, I'm trading in my bird's-eye view for two solid feet on the ground." Fury announced. "This is the last time you'll be seeing me for a stretch."

"You're gonna disappear, nowhere to be found." Darcy commented, brow arched.

"Nowhere?" Nick actually chuckled at that. "You know me better than that, Phil." He moved his eyeglasses enough to show both eyes. "I'll be everywhere."

"I'll be leaving too." Hill announced right then, calling everyone's attention to her.

"I thought you would be staying." May admitted, confused, before turning to Victoria. "Will you be leaving as well, then?"

"No, I will be staying." Victoria nodded respectfully at Phil. "At least if the Director allows..."

"I would be very glad for your assistance in this Agent Hand." Phil nodded with a smile, before turning to the other woman. "Maria..."

"I work for Stark Industries now." Maria reminded him. "And it's better this way. Fury and I, we're the most public faces of SHIELD, with Fury supposedly dead and me visibly in SI, you should have less trouble slipping through the cracks as you take care of Hydra."

Phil couldn't help but agree.

"I'm sure if you find a way to let other people know of your intentions, loyal Agents will come forward, willing to serve." Maria assured him.

"I'm sure we can find a way to do that." Phil nodded.

Standing closest to him (something that had become almost instinctive recently), Skye nodded. She would find a way.

They might not be sure of a lot of things yet, but at least a plan had been drawn, goals set: Recover from the recent battle, Rebuild SHIELD together, and take Hydra down. It wouldn't be done quickly, in fact, it probably would take them years, but they were all quite willing to work on doing what was right. Regardless of how Hydra might have taken them by surprise, might have even won some of the battles... they would win the war...

**xXx**

The team were on the air fifteen minutes after Nick Fury and Maria Hill were gone; and they had a route shortly afterwards, when Phil opened the 'toolbox' as Fury had dubbed it, to find a number of things, beginning with a set of coordinates.

The group then came together again, to congratulate Phil, assure him they would be right there to help. Skye was already working on a way to find more people. It was a bit complicated. She had sent a question on every SHIELD channel; the answer would tell her if that person was loyal to Hydra or to them. If it was the first that information would join the growing database created by the Trojan Horse on Cybertek systems; if it was the second they would receive a second question. Through a handful of those Skye intended to determine not only the loyalties of the individuals, but also their willingness to return to service and to work to take down Hydra (and to not turn them in to the military). It was complicated, and would probably take a while, but she also hoped it would lessen the chance of them bringing another traitor into their midst. They had a war to win and no time to deal with such people, such situations.

While they were at it, the team also got the chance to celebrate Jemma's and Leo's engagement. The young biochem was practically glowing in delight as she showed off the simple but striking ring on her finger. No one knew for sure how long the two had been together, but if there was a couple that definitely deserved to be together, and happy, it was them.

"You know, for the longest time it's been SHIELD policy not to allow couples to work together." Victoria Hand's comment interrupted the celebration.

"What?!" No one was expecting that.

"It is dangerous." Victoria tried to explain. "If an Agent is working with family, or worst, with a significant other, they become compromised. They cannot be trusted to make the hard decisions, because their priority is always the one they love, rather than the mission."

"It's not like it changes much, we are a family." Skye shrugged.

"Exactly." Victoria nodded. "You are already all compromised, and..."

"That's enough." Phil interrupted in a kind but strong tone. "I understand where you're coming from Agent Hand. But even if that was SHIELD's policy, it is not mine. We've seen where old policies have taken the organization. People working together, towards goals, for missions, but never truly connecting to each other. Hundreds of acquaintances, but very few friendships. Maybe it's time to see what happens when things are done differently." He focused straight on her. "I know you believe working with family rather than just colleagues is dangerous. But this team, this family... they rescued me, less than 72 hours after I was taken by Raina."

"They were more focused on saving you than on taking down Centipede and its labs." Victoria couldn't help but point out.

"But they gave you the information so you could do that, didn't they?" Phil asked in return. "And I cannot say I'm angry about being saved." He shook his head. "You say as a family they cannot focus on the mission. But it has happened already. In Italy. One by one we all fell from that train, until only Fitz and Skye were left. They weren't field agents, and still they chose to push forward. It was thanks to them that we got Quinn that day, that we learnt of his connection to Cybertek, and of Deathlok..."

"And your Agent almost died." Victoria insisted.

"That was my choice." Skye stepped in. "I didn't do it for duty, or because I was following orders. I did it, because it needed to be done. Maybe I wasn't the best person for the job, maybe I would have died if I weren't as fortunate as I am... but it was my decision, and I don't regret it." She let out a breath. "I told you that day, right here on this plane. The 'protocol crap', it doesn't matter to me. The people on this team, they are what matters. They are my friends, my family. We've been through hell together, and it's made us what we are. Hydra... they didn't just mess with a secret organization, they messed with Our Family... and that's exactly why they're going down. We are going to protect this world, and every other world." She offered a hand to Victoria. "I know you were a wonderful agent for the old SHIELD, following their rules and protocols to the dot. The question now is: Can you work with us? Following our rules?"

That was the question. Victoria Hand was a remarkable woman, and could be of great help in rebuilding SHIELD, but could she work with such unorthodox individuals as Phil Coulson and his team of misfits? A part of her was horrified, yet another, steadily growing part, the part that was filled with Maria, feelings, and opportunities that had never before been available to them, that part wanted nothing more than to at least try...

"I would be honored..." She declared, finally, shaking Skye's Hands. "Ma'am..."

Skye was left frozen for a handful of seconds. It was true, they all recognized it, even if no one was exactly sure when or how it happened; at some point Skye had become Phil's second-in-command. It had never been announced formally, but it was impossible not to notice the way they relayed on each other, the way she followed his every order without question, his and no one else's, or the way he seemed to always be searching for her support. It was strange, with all their differences, but maybe that was exactly why it worked. They each brought a completely different view of things to the table, and together managed a much clearer view of the whole. In any case, no one was complaining.

"Agent Hand..." Skye whispered when she finally got her wits back.

"Victoria." The woman corrected, and for the first time since most of those present had known her, her expression illuminated in a kind smile.

"Then welcome to this team, Victoria." Phil called, offering his hand next.

It was a welcome to a team, to an organization... and it was also so much more, a welcome into a tight group of friends... into their family.

They really were nothing like the old SHIELD, but maybe that was alright, maybe that would allow them to be better. Go back to the basics, protect, and with the group in charge trusting each other as much as they all did... the new SHIELD might just manage to finally be what its initial founders had always envisioned...

**xXx**

Their arrival to the new secret base, this one called "The Playground", had mostly gone without a hitch. It was quite shocking for everyone to meet what seemed like two Eric Koenig's though, as it turned out, the second was his twin brother Billy. Both brothers were delighted by Skye's presence and spent quite a while thanking her for saving Eric, assuring her that they were at her service for whatever she might need. They also insisted on having everyone except Phil (and Skye, if only for their gratefulness towards her) go through the 'Induction' before handing over the passes to access all the areas in the facility.

It was at that point that Skye's new position as Phil's second in command was made official. If the Koenigs found it odd that a girl who was, perhaps, the youngest agent in the room was SIC, neither of them made a comment, simply granting her the necessary security (which she'd pretty much earned, even in the old SHIELD). Even Melinda and Victoria did not seem to mind; Melinda was more used to piloting and fighting, to backing up others and following orders than to giving them; Victoria was used to being a leader, but the 'new SHIELD' was too different from what she was used to, and she felt more comfortable watching and learning. The rest of the team supported the move whole-heartedly.

It was already evening by the time they got to the Playground, and while the island where the base seemed to be located (somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic) still was getting some sun (either because it was close to summer and the days were longer, and they were close to the equator), they were all tired enough to retire. There was also the fact that with the way they kept jumping time-zones in their travels the group had grown used to sleeping when their body needed rest, regardless of the position of the sun.

Somehow Phil and Skye ended on their own, sitting by the bar in the main lounge of the facility. Each holding a cocktail prepared by Skye.

"This is good." Phil commented eventually, sipping his drink. "What did you say it was?"

"It doesn't actually have a name." Skye answered honestly. "There was this girl, she was one of Josef's girls. We called her Rose, she was a latina, a bartender, and very good at mixing drinks. So good she began making her own combinations. This is one of those, one of her special ones, less alcohol, more fruit, and a little bit of something unexpected for a kick."

"What happened to her?" Phil inquired, curious.

"She left about halfway through my stay with Josef." Skye answered. "She had been with him for over a year already, always insisting she was in no rush. But the situation was beginning to get complicated, she was among those Josef sent away before they could become targets. She went to San Francisco, I think, opened her own bar with a couple of other girls and money Josef gave them. Far as I know, they must still be there." She took a sip before adding. "We should go there some time. I'm sure she has a lot new drinks by now."

Phil smiled, he definitely enjoyed those moment, learning more about Skye, little by little. Even if they were still skirting around whatever it was that happened in LA that caused a mansion to blow up and... and that shocking scene he'd gotten from her head if only for a flip second. But he was still learning, they were learning from each other.

"So." Skye spun around in her stool to face Phil directly, half-empty drink in hand. "Any plan on what we'll be doing next, aside from kicking some more Hydra ass, Director?"

The tongue in cheek was quite obvious, and Phil couldn't help his own smirk as he answered.

"Nothing yet, Deputy Director." He winked at her. "I'm confident it'll come. And meanwhile, I'm sure we'll be busy... kicking some asses, as Melinda and you like so much to say."

"Because it's the funniest part of our jobs!" Skye replied with a peal of laughter.

Seeing her like that, so happy, so carefree, Phil couldn't help himself. He bent over to catch Skye's lips with his in a short but intense kiss. The brunette barely had the thought to put her drink down before she reacted to the contact, snaking her arms around Phil's neck, burying her fingers in his hair and arching her body into his, completely surrendering to his control. She'd never let go so much, and in only one kiss... it was terrifying and exciting at the same time!

The kiss went on for what seemed like forever, and when it finally broke off, Skye had to take a moment to breathe, they both did.

"Wow..." Was all she could articulate afterwards.

Phil smirked at her, unable to contain the satisfaction at leaving her so completely speechless. And because Skye wasn't the kind of girl to just take it, she had to return the favor.

Eventually the kissing stopped, the couple ended curled up against each other in the love-seat, half-finished drinks forgotten on the bar.

"I like this..." Skye murmured quietly, pressing her head against Phil's chest, his heart-beat slowly returning to normal against her ear.

"Me too..." Phil agreed, nose buried in her hair, taking in her scent: lilacs, and ice and a fresh breeze... he loved that smell.

"I think you mentioned something about a serious talk, earlier today." Skye commented suddenly, though refusing to move, she was so comfortable there.

"I did." He nodded. "Though I'm not sure it's actually needed."

"AC?" She inquired, confusion coloring her voice.

"This is what we want, isn't it?" He questioned, placing a kiss on her hair for emphasis.

"It is what I want." Skye pointed out, placing a kiss of her own against his chest. "But it's not like you ever seemed like you want it."

"I was trying so hard not to give into temptation..." He admitted quietly.

"Temptation?" Skye's brow arched, and Phil could practically feel her disbelief.

"Of course. You're the most amazing, beautiful, tempting woman I've ever met. I might not have always acted as such, but that is the truth."

"You're quite amazing yourself, you know? And very handsome too."

"I'm an old man. I'll be fifty in a few weeks. You're so young... I didn't want to make you feel you didn't have other options, better options... I could see Ward was rather taken with you."

"Ok, to address each point in turn: First, Age is inconsequential; I've always believed that, and it's even truer now, with us being who and what we are... Second, you've never been 'an option', you're the best, quite possibly, only option, I'll feel like the luckiest girl that you like me at all! Third, Ward... he wanted me, like a child wants the new toy in the market, like the bad boy wants the nice girl, because she's pretty, and the novelty, and it's something no one else has..." She shook her head. "I'm not sure Ward ever actually grew up, not really. Always following orders, and the only time he wanted something for himself, he reacted as he did. He never bothered to know me, the real me. He kept forgetting about my power, my past, who I really am... you would never do that. You see me, the real me, accept me as I am..."

"Of course I do! You're an amazing woman Skye. I love everything you are... I love you..."

The declaration came unexpectedly, neither of them had planned for it, not even him. But once it was out, neither of them could have regretted it either. It wasn't a big confession, not really, just the truth, a natural progression. Phil loved her, and even if it had taken him a very long time to acknowledge the fact even to himself, and until that moment to admit it to her... it was still the truth. One he was quite willing to live up to... as was she.

"I love you too AC..." She whispered back, raising her head to kiss the edge of his mouth.

"Call me Phil." He replied with a full smile.

And then they were kissing again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I really hope you liked this. 
> 
> I realize that some of my characters, mainly Phil, are getting more than a bit OOC, I think it's part of the growth of the character, the way the situations and his new abilities are changing him, and of course Skye. Though I promise to do my best to keep true to him. I love the real character too much to try and change him completely. 
> 
> Regarding Skye's new position... I swear it wasn't planned! In fact, my original idea had the team forming a sort of council, like a Board of Directors, that would help Phil make the hard decisions (Skye would have been heading the Tech part of things), but somehow, when I was writing that scene with Victoria, I just ended up making her Deputy Director. It just happened... I hope you like it anyway, I did explain why it fit... 
> 
> Some people have been asking for a reunion between James and Steve, and about Natalia... that is all coming, first thing on the next part of this story. I promise (that chapter is already written, just needs to be edited). 
> 
> After that, we have the craziness that is me turning this universe into a mega-crossover (I'm a tad insane, as you'll soon find out... or you probably already realized it by now). 
> 
> The sequel is currently in the works, I just need to work out a few kinks on the planning department and write it (I'm currently on the second chapter). Like I've said several times it will be a multiple crossover. There will be mentions and suggestions of several characters and fandoms, though only seven will be fully in the story (aside from what is already a part of the MCU, meaning all the Avengers-related movies and AoS). Also, my offer right now is, whoever guesses right most of the crossovers I plan on making (books, tv shows, movies) from the things that have been revealed thus far (especially in this story) I will offer the chance to be a minor character either in Astrid or in the next story: Meneliel. I'm quite sure no one will guess them all, for the simple reason that there is at least one fandom I haven't even made a suggestion of. Still, whoever guesses the most wins (and I think at least two must be quite obvious by now). 
> 
> In any case, and regardless of whether people guess or not. The crossover is coming, I hope you'll enjoy it. See you next week with the first chapter of "Astrid"!

**Author's Note:**

> Before someone says anything about me making the alien a Jotun when I know many insist it's a Kree... look at it this way. Sif said that from all the 'blue aliens' in the universe, the Jotun were the only ones who'd ever been on Earth... and while I'll be the first to point out she could have been wrong, the last thing I need right now is to get into the mess that more alien races would bring. Also, it allowed for the conversation I wanted between Skye and Phil. 
> 
> I know the prophecy is a mess and it's likely that anyone who actually has any decent knowledge of such things will want to lynch me, but I'm taking poetic and literary license in this. Also, I have the honest belief that such gifts would present themselves in a manner that allows the individual to interpret it, which may or may not fit what others say certain things mean. In other words, if Skye believes that crows are bad and ravens are good, when she has prophetic dreams, crows will represent bad omens and ravens good things, because that's how her mind translates the images. 
> 
> As I've said before. The third part of this series: Astrid, will handle several crossovers. This is because, as you may or may not have realized, "Astrid" will handle my version of the rebuilding of SHIELD, it will also have the new version of the organization building bridges with other individuals and groups of gifted people (hence the crossovers). Some I have at least half planned already; They won't be of vital importance precisely. Right now the plan is to do one per chapter, as a way to maybe fix things from other fandoms, maybe develop details from my main characters, and have some fun as I lay the ground-work for the main and final part of the series: "Meneliel". 
> 
> So let me know what you want and what you like! 
> 
> As always, poster and wallpaper are on my Deviant-Art account.
> 
> See ya around!


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